Trump's Most Difficult Deal Yet

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

50% : In an April 2024 paper co-authored with Fred Fleitz, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who has since been tasked by Trump to serve as special envoy for Russia and Ukraine, sketched out the broad contours of a deal that would see Ukraine temporarily lose control of Russian-occupied territories in exchange for unspecified security guarantees from the United States, while Ukraine's NATO membership would be taken off the table for an extended period.
49% : The war's instigator, Russian President Vladimir Putin, said on Friday that he was "ready for negotiations" and suggested meeting with Trump in person, describing his relationship with the U.S. leader as "businesslike, pragmatic, and trustworthy."
44% : But during his first week in office, Trump and the presidents of Russia and Ukraine continued to stake out their negotiating positions ahead of a widely anticipated U.S.-led push to end the conflict.
40% : At the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to channel Trump when Zelensky berated European leaders for not investing more in the continent's defense, later saying that it would take a 200,000-strong European peacekeeping force to deter Russia from attacking again in the wake of a settlement -- a contingent roughly the same size as the entire active-duty personnel in the French Armed Forces.
40% : At the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to channel Trump when Zelensky berated European leaders for not investing more in the continent's defense, later saying that it would take a 200,000-strong European peacekeeping force to deter Russia from attacking again in the wake of a settlement -- a contingent roughly the same size as the entire active-duty personnel in the French Armed Forces.
38% : Putin is not opposed to talks with Trump, so long as they secure the same outcome.
38% : "If the talks with Trump do not lead to this goal, he will drop it and he will achieve it by military means," she said.
28% : A person close to the Ukrainian government, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak candidly, said that officials in Kyiv understand that the Trump administration has to make outreach to Moscow, but that Trump officials would likely discover Putin unwilling to compromise.
24% : For his part, Trump threatened to impose "high levels" of taxes, tariffs, and sanctions on Russian imports if a deal isn't reached soon.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.