While US President Donald Trump listens to Steve Witkoff, who convinces that the Russian dictator wants peace, the “Coalition of the Willing” is looking for ways to protect Ukraine from a second Russian attack. However, there is a lack of solutions on how to deter Ukraine from aggression right now. Among the reasons are the lack of discussion within Ukrainian society and the narrow circle of people with whom Western leaders communicate in Ukraine. This opinion was expressed by Vadym Prystaiko, former Minister of Foreign Affairs (2019 - 2020), former Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine (2020), and Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom (2020-2023).
“Obviously, there is nothing to talk about,” he says . “And this is not only the fault of our leaders, not only of our people, who, having chosen such a system of government, have actually unloaded all rights and obligations onto one person, without demanding the expansion of these powers for everyone <…> Our partners… preferred to communicate with one or two people in Ukraine, instead of… doing as they themselves explained to us: there are institutions, ministries, civil society, expert circles, media, etc., which have the right.”
At the same time, even during the “Minsk process” there was a polyphony of opinions. “Not everyone knows, but even when there were the so-called Minsk processes… even then there were so many levels and channels of communication… Not all of them were public, but it sometimes allowed us to communicate even with those people who are obviously our ideological enemies. But without this it is impossible <...> We simply need to give the opportunity to hear a greater number of ideas and their better quality. Perhaps those in power will be able to choose from them,” Prystaiko is sure.
"Apostrophe" spoke with the former head of the Foreign Ministry about whether Trump will eventually abandon his peacemaking ambitions in the Ukrainian-Russian war and whether we should rely on Europe.
Mr. Vadim, has Donald Trump's attitude towards Volodymyr Zelensky changed during his first term and now?
Then they were happy to see, similar to them, as it seemed to them, a person who came on a new wave in Ukraine. But it was such a purely personal, human interest. I don't think anyone predicted, projected this into the future that will be. And now to observe the relations that are there, if they don't change radically, it is certainly very disappointing. The only thing that I didn't see then was an interest that was more than personal. That is, it wasn't like this: let's analyze the leader of a country that is very important to us. It was simply - an interesting person who came to power.
Now they understand that part of their policy is tied to this person specifically. And the Trump administration is annoyed by this very tie. Who would have thought that they would be poked in the eye on a plane, on the street, at a ski resort by some Ukraine. If we manage to change this energy, which is, unfortunately, negative, it could be a success story. Then, maybe, a chance will appear for us.
Why do you think Trump listens more to Steve Witkoff than to Marco Rubio and Kellogg, who are talking about a tougher stance on Putin?
What the media reports is not necessarily true. We don't really know what's going on in the office. We draw conclusions from one article, someone told someone else. There's just not enough truthful information.
Maybe this is due to the fact that Trump, a fan of big, quick deals, has such a simple idea so far: to give some economic preferences. Unfortunately, this is not only Trump's idea that if Russia is interested in business projects, it will somehow become more democratic and so on. Remember [former German Chancellor Angela] Merkel. That was her idea, to drag Russia into a million economic ties.
We must admit that with this particular government, this particular character Putin, this tactic does not work. Perhaps one day Russia will be interested in improving the quality of its own life, having the resources for this, for a normal life, civilizational development. Not now, now they are burning all their resources on these wars and achieving some geopolitical greatness.
As Trump approaches 100 days, we see that Russia has not yet agreed to a ceasefire.
And that was obvious and expected.
Yes. How will this affect Trump? Will he look for some way to exit the peace initiative?
There was a very interesting example when NATO was fighting in Afghanistan and they told the Taliban that the Afghan mission would end on such and such a date. The Taliban knew when that day would come, and [supporters of the radical Islamist movement] were waiting for NATO to get into an awkward situation, having reached its deadline and not having succeeded. This is the pit that the Trump administration has now found itself in. NATO drew conclusions and said that we will be there as long as necessary to resolve this situation. This completely upset the Taliban's cards, and they were forced to sit down at the negotiating table.
I think that by the time they reach 100 days or some other time frame, the new Trump 2.0 administration will learn and understand the mistake they made with Russia, allowing themselves to be trapped in a dead end. And then they will not set a time frame by which they need to achieve success, becoming hostage to Putin's desire or unwillingness to play along, but they will set a goal: we will achieve this, we will achieve the next step. I'm just waiting for this period to end, and they will move on to the next stage.
Future German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says that Ukraine will receive Taurus if European partners agree. At the same time, Britain and France expect the US to participate in security guarantees. How can we strengthen support in Europe?
I think Taurus will. Taurus is made by the same corporation that makes Storm Shadow and SCALP. Not only are they similar, they are one company that is divided into parts, meaning they need political approval, and technically everything else is already there. And political approval is coming. We see that Merz is creating the basis on which he can make this decision.
But I think the United States, they will understand over time that Europe will achieve everything on its own. It's just at what stage and how we will survive this - that's the key question.
You expressed an interesting opinion that the Ukrainian government should hear more ideas, including from the opposition. How should this be?
Maybe someone will think that this is my pass to the opposition, that it should join the government. This is not entirely true. This is one of the options. It would be ideal if the field were expanded, it is not necessary to hand out portfolios, it is not necessary to recognize ministerial positions or any positions. Just to have the opportunity to hear. Otherwise, you simply lock yourself into the advice that those around you give you. You expect them to know everything. It doesn't work that way. Neither do I, nor do you. Unfortunately, we don't know everything.
