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President Donald Trump says negotiations to bring peace between Ukraine and Russia are moving along quickly. In a break from United States foreign policy precedent, however, Ukraine is not involved in said talks, sparking outrage in Ukraine and across Europe.Ìý

Now, a possible mineral deal between the U.S. and Ukraine may be on the table, with vague details of what it includes and when and how it may be signed.Ìý

Sarah Wilson Sokhey is an associate professor at the 91¸£ÀûÉç who specializes in comparative politics and political economy in post-communist Central and Eastern European countries. She sat down with 91¸£ÀûÉç Today to give her take on the evolving relationships between the United States, Russia, Ukraine and Europe.ÌýÌý

What’s going on with the relationships between the United States, Ukraine and Russia?Ìý

There's recently been a huge shift in the US foreign policy with the new Trump administration, given that the previous policy was to isolate Russia for its war of aggression against Ukraine. One of the big things is that Russia and the United States have recently met. I can’t overstate how huge of a reversal it is on foreign policy, that the U.S. would be having talks about peace in a country without that country present, as if it’s not an independent country. That's a very imperialist kind of model where the big countries decide what happens to the smaller countries.

Also, the United Nations recently voted on a resolution about peace in Ukraine and the United States allied itself with Russia, North Korea, Belarus—countries that did not vote with a majority-approved U.N. resolution to end the conflict in Ukraine, affirm that Russia was to blame and declare Russian troops should leave Ukraine immediately.Ìý

It's really a huge about-face in U.S. foreign policy. It’s hard to overstate the implications of that for the world. It also means the United States does not align itself with Europe anymore, and that's unprecedented in recent times.

Sarah WilsonÌýSokhey

How did we get here?Ìý

The war started in 2014 with the territorial invasion. The full scale invasion was three years ago. For many Ukrainians, this hasn’t just been three years for them, this is more than a decade of fighting, although certainly the full scale invasion massively escalated the war.Ìý

What we’re hearing from President Trump now isÌýa repetition of Russian propaganda that has been out in the world for as long as Putin has been saying it. But now we see the American president repeating Russian propaganda and Putin's lies about Ukraine. Putin said that Zelenskyy was a dictator, for example, a false claim recently repeated by Trump. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy won by an overwhelming majority in 2019. He had the largest winning majority of any Ukrainian president when he won. He would have been up for reelection in 2024, but they're under wartime and cannot hold elections. The notion that Russia is blaming Ukraine for not having elections while Russia is bombing Ukraine is just mind boggling. A close colleague of mine sent video from the past weekend of the extended overnight drone attacks in Kyiv. These are not conditions under which elections can be held.

Furthermore, reliable polling data from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology shows that Zelenskyy currently has a 57% approval rating and that the majority of Ukrainians agree that now is not the time to hold elections.

How does Europe factor into all of this?Ìý

Ukraine is in a very precarious and tough situation now and leaning heavily on its European allies. And Europe has been rallying to that call. The United Kingdom, which of course is not a European Union member, has been a firm supporter of Ukraine. The EU is still a firm supporter of Ukraine as well, but we’re also seeing how daunting of a task it is for Europe to take on more in the absence of U.S. support for Ukraine.Ìý

The Trump administration's actions will have a devastating effect on relations with Europe. It will likely take decades to rebuild trust between the United States and European allies. I think we're only seeing the beginning of the implications of cutting ties and cutting allyship with European powers.Ìý

What do you think President Trump gets out of aligning himself with Russia and Putin?ÌýÌý

Trump and the Trump administration appear to be primarily and solely motivated by power, wealth and a transactional kind of politics.Ìý

So, what wealth and power can he get out of siding with Russia when the rest of the world are saying they're the aggressors?Ìý

There's probably a lot of potential opportunities Trump sees. Perhaps there could be business deals and trade agreements with Russia. In the recent talks between the U.S. and Russia, there were talks about renewing economic cooperation and economic ties.Ìý

In a larger sense, it could be influence over certain territories of the world. It's likely, or possible at least, that the Trump administration sees allying itself with Russia as a potential leverage point it can use with other countries. Essentially signaling the U.S. will not promise on any ideological grounds that we are your allies; that's something that has to be continually negotiated.Ìý

It looks like Presidents Zelenskyy and Trump are working on a raw materials deal. What kind of impact could a deal like that have?

There was a deal previously proposed that Zelenskyy strongly rejected, where the U.S. would get an enormous portion of Ukraine's mineral wealth from the country. And this goes to the transactional nature of how the Trump administration is doing business. Zelenskyy had initially hoped to meet with President Trump, which was rejected, all while Zelenskyy has generally been pretty respectful of President Trump, despite the challenging situation.

On Wednesday (Feb. 26) it was announced that some agreement had been reached about Ukraine sharing its mineral wealth with the US although not all of the details have been released, and both sides are claiming to have gotten a good deal (or for Ukraine, at least a better deal) in this version of the agreement. This may be useful for Ukraine if it keeps the lines of communication and negotiation open with the Trump administration.Ìý

How does this end for both sides, Russia and Ukraine?Ìý

Russia's goals are not realistic—there cannot be a total domination of Ukraine. Russia and Putin have already failed in their main objective to control Ukraine.Ìý Russia has been using its full military force for three years and has still had to turn to North Korean weapons and North Korean soldiers to keep even waging battle. On Thursday, Feb. 27th, it was announced that even more North Korean troops are being sent to Russia.

For Ukraine, independence, freedom and peace are absolutely possible as long as they have the support of Europe and, ideally, the support of the United States.

What would you like the public to know about this?Ìý

Amid all of this, it will be very important for the public to use reliable news sources. Sources like the BBC and The Guardian are doing an excellent job reporting on Ukraine and fact-checking erroneous statements about the war. It’s vital the world pay attention to this war that has consequences for all of us.

I recommend the following recent coverage:Ìý

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