Trump Tells European Leaders in Private That Putin Isn’t Ready to End War

An excerpt- related to yesterday’s post and why I believe as stated

The US goal was not about ending this war at any point in time. So, this move is intended to place Russia between a rock and a hard place.

US Expects Russia to Present Ukraine Ceasefire Terms Within Days

WSJ via Archive.ph

Trump had indicated in a call with European leaders Sunday—which included Macron, Merz, Meloni and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer—that he would dispatch Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Keith Kellogg to talks that are now expected to take place at the Vatican. On Monday, Trump appeared to be noncommittal about a U.S. role, according to one of the people briefed on the call.
Some of the Europeans on the call Monday insisted that the outcome of any talks at the Vatican must be an unconditional cease-fire. But Trump again demurred, saying he didn’t like the term “unconditional.” He said he had never used that term, although he used it when calling for a 30-day cease-fire in a post on his Truth Social platform on May 8. The Europeans eventually agreed to drop their insistence on the adjective.
Europe’s diplomatic offensive to get Trump to pressure Russia escalated when Merz, the conservative German chancellor, took office earlier this month. Merz has been much more willing to confront Putin than his left-leaning predecessor, Olaf Scholz. More important, Merz’s coalition helped amend Germany’s constitution to allow the country much greater latitude in borrowing to spend on the military and support for Ukraine.

On May 10, Merz, Macron, Starmer and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk paid an impromptu visit to Zelensky in Kyiv. They urged him to go along with what Trump wanted, to expose Putin’s unwillingness to end the war. They then used Macron’s cellphone to call Trump from Zelensky’s official residence, telling him Europe and Ukraine were fully behind his call for a 30-day cease-fire. The Europeans publicly threatened new sanctions against Putin if he didn’t accept the cease-fire.

On May 10, Merz, Macron, Starmer and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk paid an impromptu visit to Zelensky in Kyiv. They urged him to go along with what Trump wanted, to expose Putin’s unwillingness to end the war.

This is what Rubio is up to with his demand for Russia to outline a ceasefire. Narrative creation intended to expose Putin’s alleged unwillingness to end the war..