Ukraine needs a circuit-breaker

Donald Trump’s rare rebuke of Vladimir Putin after meeting Volodymyr Zelensky in Rome on Saturday is hopefully a sign the US President finally is beginning to see where culpability clearly lies for the failure of his ceasefire efforts in Ukraine. “There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns over the past few days,” Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social website after attending Pope Francis’s funeral and spending 15 minutes talking alone with Mr Zelensky in the marbled nave of St Peter’s. Referring to last Thursday’s massive Russian bombardment (using mainly North Korean missiles) of Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities and towns, Mr Trump said: “It makes me think that maybe he (Putin) doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me (stringing me) along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions’?”

Given the frequency with which Mr Trump changes his mind, there is a need for caution about what that means. But since returning to the White House it is the closest he has come to outright criticism of the Russian tyrant. For the sake of his own reputation, distinguishing right from wrong, and achieving a ceasefire in Ukraine, it must be hoped Mr Trump meant what he said.

The signs are encouraging and contrast, Douglas Murray wrote in the New York Post, with Mr Trump’s pathetic, Joe Biden-like reaction to Thursday’s bombardment when the US leader’s response was simply: “Vladimir, STOP.” Such criticism in Mr Trump’s favourite newspaper should weigh heavily with him.

So should that of close allies and friends such as former British prime minister Boris Johnson, who has remained a staunch champion of Ukraine’s fight for survival against Putin’s attempts to re-create the former Soviet Union and of Mr Trump’s leadership. The seven-point draft agreement produced by Washington last week, which overwhelmingly favoured Russia’s demands in the conflict, was unacceptable, Mr Johnson said. He still has Mr Trump’s ear and has warned him that it’s time to “get tough” with Putin.

Mr Trump must do so. Given what is at stake for the democratic free world, this is no time, as British commentator Charles Moore has written, “for repeating all the mistakes of (1930s) appeasement – except it is (even) worse this time: The US President is openly on Putin’s side, refusing to condemn the invasion and instead shifting all the blame on to Ukraine.” Never once has Mr Trump said Putin was wrong to launch his illegal, unprovoked invasion.

After what Mr Zelensky described as his “historic” 15 minutes with Mr Trump – sitting just a few metres away from Pope Francis’s coffin – US appeasement of the Russian tyrant needs to cease. Spontaneous applause that greeted Mr Zelensky, but not Mr Trump, when they appeared separately to take their seats in front of St Peter’s for the funeral mass should have shown Mr Trump that he has been backing the wrong horse in Ukraine.

The US President would do well to learn from Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov, a long-time critic of Putin, who once remarked: “If you want to understand Putin’s regime, don’t read history books, read Mario Puzo.” Mr Trump now has an opportunity to change course, and he must.