Trump suggests Ukraine should attack Russia. Have peace talks stalled already?

Peacemaker or not… That’s the question many would be asking about US President Donald Trump after he suggested that Ukraine should go on the offensive in the ongoing war against Russia. The new rhetoric from the American leader is notable as he’s been the one to push Ukraine to make a deal with Russia that would stop the war.

But what has led to this moment? Is it because Russia launched its biggest wave of strikes on Ukraine or is it because the US president senses that the peace talks are going nowhere?

Russia launches largest air attack in weeks

Just days after Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met in Alaska to discuss the ongoing war, Russia, on Thursday (August 21), launched one of its heaviest bombardments in weeks towards Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian forces, Moscow launched 574 drones and 40 cruise and ballistic missiles overnight, targeting five cities in western Ukraine as well as the industrial city of Zaporizhzhia near the southern front line.

A missile strike on Mukachevo, a city 30 kilometres from the Hungarian border, struck a large US-owned electronics manufacturing plant. Officials said 19 people were injured, and some 600 employees were on shift but had taken shelter after an air raid warning.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Russians had hit a civilian business, which indicated that they were in mood to talk peace. “It was an ordinary civilian enterprise, an American investment,” Zelenskyy wrote. “They produced such familiar household items as coffee machines. And this is also a target for the Russians. Very telling.”

Russian forces “delivered this strike as if nothing had changed at all,” he added. “There is still no signal from Moscow that they are really going to go into meaningful negotiations to end this war.”

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Later, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X that the Russians had struck Texas-based Flex, which was a “fully civilian facility that has nothing to do with defence or the military,” adding that Russian airstrikes had damaged other American businesses in the past, including the offices of Boeing earlier this year. Even Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, wrote on Telegram: “Putin talks about peace, but does not take a single step to achieve it… Instead of real solutions, we get attacks on civilians.”

Mukachevo Mayor Andriy Baloha also wrote on Facebook that the company provides “work for thousands of residents” of city and the surrounding region.

Meanwhile, the company was still assessing the strike’s damage to the factory, which “does not produce, supply or support” any defence-related components. “At this time, our primary goal is to ensure the safety and welfare of our employees,” the company said. “Flex manufacturing operations in Mukachevo are strictly focused on civilian consumer manufacturing.”

Andy Hunder, head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, urged Trump to show Putin that “the United States protects its own”. “Russia continues to destroy and humiliate US businesses in Ukraine, targeting companies that invest and trade on the US stock markets,” Hunder said in a Facebook post. “Russia is not only destroying Ukraine — it is undermining US leadership, values and US business.”

Trump ramps up rhetoric

Shortly after the Russian strikes on Ukraine, US President Donald Trump appeared to suggest Ukraine go on the offensive militarily.

He wrote on Truth Social, his own social media platform, “It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invaders country. It’s like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense, but is not allowed to play offense. There is no chance of winning! It is like that with Ukraine and Russia.”

He further criticised his predecessor, Joe Biden’s longstanding policy against Ukraine using US long-range missiles to attack inside Russia. “Crooked and grossly incompetent Joe Biden would not let Ukraine fight back, only defend. How did that work out? Regardless, this is a war that would have never happened if I were president – zero chance,” he continued. “Interesting times ahead!!!”

Trump then went ahead and posted a picture of himself poking Vladimir Putin in the chest, above an image of Richard Nixon doing the same to Nikita Khrushchev, a former prime minister of the Soviet Union.

For many, Trump’s social media musings is being seen as the US president’s support to Kyiv to attack Russia on its own soil, a red line for Moscow. Trump’s remarks would also be welcomed in other European nations, namely Ukraine’s allies, who have been pushing Washington to impose further sanctions on Russia.

Russia-Ukraine peace talks going nowhere

What is even more interesting about Trump’s remarks is that they come amid the flurry of diplomacy over the last few days between Trump and his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts. Last Friday (August 15), the US president met his Russian counterpart in Alaska to discuss the ongoing war.

Days later, on August 18, Trump met with Zelenskyy and other European leaders at the White House following which he announced that he was arranging a meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian leader. Moreover, US and Europe would be providing security guarantees to Ukraine — though he didn’t specify what they would look like.

However, in the following days, it appears that the talks have gone nowhere. Shortly after Trump suggested that a meeting between the two leaders would occur soon, Russia’s Foreign Minister Segei Lavrov said that Putin was ready to meet Zelenskyy but added that all issues must be worked through first and there’s a question about Zelenskyy’s authority to sign a peace deal.

Lavrov also said that any meeting would have to be prepared “gradually… starting with the expert level and thereafter going through all the required steps”.

This, Boris Bondarev, who worked for the Russian permanent mission to the United Nations Office in Geneva until he resigned in 2022 in opposition to Putin’s war on Ukraine, told ABC News “gives a lot of room for speculation”. “Western diplomacy first says out loud what they’re going to do, so their opponent is ready,” he added. “Russians would never do such a thing.”

In fact, the Kremlin’s lack of confirmation has been interpreted by many as a sign that Putin will not agree to meeting Zelenskyy.

Also, the US and Europe’s security guarantees have become a sticking point. On Wednesday, Moscow insisted that it must have a veto over any future effort to defend Kyiv. Lavrov said that “really secure” guarantees for Ukraine would have to involve Russia and its biggest ally China alongside the US, UK and France.

“Russia will accept if the security guarantees to Ukraine are provided on equal basis with the participation of countries like China, the United States, the United Kingdom and France,” said the Russian foreign minister.

His comments have put the peace plan in disarray, as earlier it was claimed that Russia had agreed to security guarantees for Kyiv.

The biggest indicator that the peace talks are not going the right way is Trump’s own statement. While he projected optimism on Monday, he’s now saying he’ll know whether a deal can be made in “two weeks.”

“Well, I’ll let you know in about, I would say within two weeks, we’re going to know one way or the other. After that, we’ll have to maybe take a different tack, but we’ll see, but we’ll know pretty soon,” Trump said during an interview with radio host Todd Starnes.

It truly seems that peace is as distant a dream as it was before Trump’s summits with Putin and Zelenskyy.

With inputs from agencies