Waiting for a Ceasefire in Eastern Europe: Is Trump the Savior?
The war raging on Ukraine’s eastern border remains a large question mark; is it ended or still tense? The world’s attention was drawn to the Middle East conflict between Hamas and Israeli fighters, who surrendered 46,000 Gaza citizens, but on Sunday, January 19, 2025, the conflict came to an end with the two parties agreeing to a truce. The question is whether the confrontation between Ukraine and Russia is going to end in the near future.
Ukraine has not officially renewed its partnership with Gazprom, a major Russian gas corporation that has been a strategic partner for European countries. Russia is the major supplier of gas to European countries; if the partnership is not renewed, it is expected to include European countries such as Germany. Russia and Germany have important gas cooperation, and both countries cooperated to build a natural gas pipeline that flows directly from Russia to Germany. It is no secret that Russian gas is priced relatively low, thus many countries in Europe, including Germany, rely on Russian gas delivery. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’s eastern border, Germany, a NATO ally, was forced to face the burden of being a NATO member, not only by driving Russia back from Ukraine’s eastern border, but also by discontinuing gas cooperation with Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is becoming aware of unwanted consequences. In this adverse circumstance, a few European Union countries are pulling away from Ukraine, and Zelenskyy is slowly being abandoned by the United States and its Alliance. Joe Biden, the previous 46th President of the United States, strongly supported Ukraine’s desperate struggle by pouring war funds and weapons into the country, however the funds and weapons delivered did not result in victory for Ukraine. President-elect Donald Trump does not want to deal with giving military aid and weapons to Ukraine, which has been deemed a failure thus far. Trump appears to be offering Ukraine and Russia the option of ending their long-running conflict, but he is dissatisfied with Zelenskyy’s agreement. Trump and Putin have a good rapport, and it is not unthinkable that Putin’s political lobbying of Trump will impact the driving force of the cease-fire negotiations on Ukraine’s eastern border, leading to Russian victory.
The decision to put pressure on Ukraine and Russia to act on a ceasefire is what is right to do, considering that the war has been ongoing for a long time and previous compromises have failed to be achieved by both parties. NATO member countries, especially the United States, have begun to speak to Zelenskyy, who has been unable to put an end to the conflict despite receiving monetary and military aid. In his speech, Trump stated that if he is elected as the 47th President of the United States, he would end the tense conflict between Ukraine and Russia within 24 hours.
“Let us end this war, which would never have begun if I were President! We can do it the easy or hard way, and the easy way is always preferable,” Trump said.
Everyone is now waiting for Donald Trump’s pledge to quickly and precisely end the crisis between Ukraine and Russia; there is no new chapter; the most fitting is the final chapter.
