Go Unlimited with Magzter GOLD
Get unlimited access to 10,000+ magazines, newspapers and Premium stories for just
Try GOLD - Free
As Trump steps back, Ukraine looks to Europe for a way of defeating Putin
The Observer
|May 25, 2025
US funds might be dwindling, but with European support, Kyiv can exploit Russia's weakness. Nina Kuryata and Fred Harter report
After Donald Trump's two-hour call to Vladimir Putin last Monday, the White House claimed a breakthrough, officially stating that Ukraine and Russia would “immediately” start talks towards a ceasefire and “an end to the war”.
It did not happen. A Kremlin spokesperson said there were “no deadlines” for talks and it quickly became clear Trump had failed to put any pressure on Putin to halt the fighting. Now Trump appears ready to wash his hands of the conflict altogether.
“This isn’t my war,” he told reporters later that day. “We got ourselves entangled in something we shouldn't have been involved in.” If there was no breakthrough soon, he added, he would “back away”.
Continued US support for Ukraine has never been more in doubt. So far the Trump administration has not approved a new military aid package for Ukraine, having only agreed a $310m sale of F-16 fighter jet parts and support with Kyiv.
Three years into the war, Ukraine faces an existential question: can it defeat Russia on the battlefield with only European help?
This may not be as daunting as it sounds. Earlier this year a senior American Nato commander in Germany was asked how long it would take to end the war using Nato forces already in Europe. The response: “Three weeks, two of which would be laying pipelines to get gas to the forces that are moving forward.”
This story is from the May 25, 2025 edition of The Observer.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 10,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORE STORIES FROM The Observer
The Observer
I wouldn't touch Starmer with a barge pole. He's completely untrustworthy
In the first of a new weekly series in which we ask a public figure to take us on a walk of significance, Rachel Sylvester, our political editor strolls through London's Stoke Newington with Zack Polanski. The leader of the Greens talks about tax hikes, leaving Nato and why former Labour politicians are welcome to join his party
8 mins
November 23, 2025
The Observer
Short-beaked echidna
Old does not mean primitive. Let's get that straight at once. Sure, we're mammals and sure, we lay eggs, which makes us unusual in the late Holocene but that doesn't mean we're backward.
2 mins
November 23, 2025
The Observer
Help with cost of living to make tax smorgasboard easier to swallow
These have been the leakiest, most fevered pre-budget weeks in modern British political history.
4 mins
November 23, 2025
The Observer
It's not easy being green: high energy costs threaten UK's net zero business endeavours
Missed decarbonisation targets, high prices and political uncertainty are seeing Labour's bid to make the nation a clean utility 'superpower' drift off into the ether.
8 mins
November 23, 2025
The Observer
The trail of bad decisions and delays that led to 23,000 avoidable deaths
As the second official report into Britain's Covid response is made public, a story emerges of a government failing to heed warnings and a first lockdown that was too little, too late.
4 mins
November 23, 2025
The Observer
Europeans rush to foil Ukraine deal favouring Kremlin
Kyiv's allies seek to thwart Trump negotiator's peace plan that gives in to Russian demands and turns the screw on embattled Zelensky
4 mins
November 23, 2025
The Observer
'We saw so many bodies that we lost count': uncovering the hidden horror of El Fasher
Using eyewitness reports, satellite images and social media videos, Isabel Coles and Fred Harter record the carnage when RSF fighters seized the famine-stricken capital of Sudan's North Darfur
10 mins
November 23, 2025
The Observer
It's not easy being green: high energy costs threaten UK's net zero business endeavours
Missed decarbonisation targets, high prices and political uncertainty are seeing Labour's bid to make the nation a clean utility 'superpower' drift off into the ether.
6 mins
November 23, 2025
The Observer
My lost afternoon with Elisabeth Lederer
I will come on to the eye-watering price shortly, but let's start with the art. Is the painting any good?
1 mins
November 23, 2025
The Observer
The Lords they are a-leaping as vandals in ermine do their damnedest to frustrate ministers
Andrew Rawnsley
4 mins
November 23, 2025
Listen
Translate
Change font size