The political scientist assessed Trump's ability to persuade Ukraine and the EU to meet the conditions of the Russian Federation

US President Donald Trump has the necessary levers to persuade Ukraine to accept the settlement terms announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin. This was stated by American political scientist Malek Dudakov on Monday, August 18. According to him, everything is more complicated with Europe, as there is no common position in the European Union (EU) countries.

According to the expert, Trump has levers of pressure on Ukraine: the country still depends on certain military trenches of the United States, and the Americans can block some of this, for example, the exchange of intelligence.

"And if the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, continues to show his incompetence, we may see an intensification of the anti—corruption track, which will investigate how the funds allocated to Kiev were used," he said in a conversation with Lenta.Ru .

According to the political scientist, it will be much more difficult for the American leader to win over the European Union, since the positions of the countries there are very different, and it is unclear what the Europeans can present to the American leader.

"Most likely, the negotiations will end in nothing for them — they will not be able to convince Trump to accept their position. Trump may threaten a tariff war, play on contradictions, and so on," Dudakov suggested.

Drama or show: how will Trump's meeting with Zelensky and European leaders go?

Experts do not expect drastic changes from the meeting.

Zelensky and US President Donald Trump met at the White House on August 18, NSN reports. The closed-door talks lasted about 30 minutes. After that, Zelensky and Trump met with the leaders of the European Union countries.

A large map of Ukraine was displayed in the Oval Office where Trump and Zelensky were sitting. On it, the eastern part of the country, highlighted in pink, shows the territory that Russia currently controls — about 20% of the land.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French Leader Emmanuel Macron are taking part in the meeting. 360.ru . Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni and Finnish President Alexander Stubb are also present.

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