Trump is already gone: Pulitzer Prize winner speaks exclusively about how to stop Russia

Neither the United States nor Europe is ready to use all the levers of influence that could really stop Russia and force Putin to stop the war. This would include greater allied involvement in the war, more comprehensive sanctions against Russia, the Trump administration should stop the negotiations and say that they are not working and start supporting Ukraine again.

Anne Applebaum, an American journalist and writer, Pulitzer Prize winner, said this in a conversation with TSN.ua on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

«Right now, I don’t see any game changer (a fundamental turning point that would force Russia to end the war — Ed. I can imagine what it could be, but I don’t see people being ready to do it,» the publicist believes.

According to her, we know that the Americans are still helping Ukrainians with targets (providing intelligence to hit Russian targets — Ed.), and Ukrainians consider this very important. There are still supplies of missile defense (primarily interceptor missiles for Patriot systems — Ed.) coming from the United States.

«Although, of course, the Europeans are paying for it now. So the U.S. could definitely do more to help. So I would like to see another conversation about a deal involving Europe,» emphasizes Applebaum.

Ukraine, according to the writer, should accept the idea that Europe is its most important partner and treat Europe as such. The Europeans have the most long-term interest in Ukraine (than the United States — Ed.), they really care about Ukraine, they also suffered from the war, and the United States clearly did not.

«I don’t know if the Ukrainians have realized it yet, but the Europeans are paying for everything now. They’re paying for all the weapons and providing all the funding. And, you know, the Ukrainians should treat them as their main partner. And Trump is not on anyone’s side at all. He has no strategy. He’s interested in what’s good for him. He has no vision of the world in which he’s trying to achieve anything but his own political gain or money. Trump is gone — it’s already happened,» summarized Applebaum.

Earlier, we wrote that the third round of trilateral talksbetween Ukraine, Russia and the United States on the future of the Donetsk region will start in Geneva on February 17. Expectations for the meeting remain low: previous rounds have yielded minimal results, and key disagreements over territories and security guarantees persist.

The return of Kremlin spokesman Medynsky to the talks is met with skepticism in Kyiv because of his tough stance. The talks will focus on the territorial issue and mechanisms to monitor the ceasefire.