COLUMN: Trump and Putin Play Cat and Mouse While Ukraine Bleeds

When Contempt Becomes a Diplomatic Weapon

February 28, 2025, will be remembered as one of the most embarrassing moments in modern diplomacy. Volodymyr Zelensky visits the White House, no doubt hoping for renewed support, a helping hand. What does he get instead? A public humiliation in front of cameras from around the world. Trump and his vice president, JD Vance, verbally berate him, accuse him of being ungrateful, and criticize him for playing with the lives of millions of people. “You’re in no position to tell us anything,” Trump snaps with his characteristic arrogance. The Ukrainian president remains calm and responds firmly, but the damage is done. The message is crystal clear—Washington is beginning to abandon Kyiv.

I watched this scene with a deep sense of unease. Seeing a man who has been defending his country for three years being treated like a spoiled child… it turned my stomach. Zelensky isn’t perfect—far from it. But he’s standing his ground against a war machine that should have crushed him long ago. And this is how we thank him?

When Money Becomes a Weapon

A few days after that memorable altercation, Trump took action. On the night of March 3–4, 2025, he ordered the temporary suspension of military aid to Ukraine. The pretext? Kyiv must demonstrate a “good-faith commitment to peace.” Translation: accept our terms or die. It’s pure and simple blackmail, disguised as diplomacy. The U.S. administration is forcing Ukraine’s hand to extract an agreement on its rare earth minerals—those strategic resources worth billions. Meanwhile, Ukrainian soldiers are running out of ammunition, hospitals are running out of medicine, and civilians are running out of everything. But hey, business is business, isn’t it?

There is something deeply sickening about this approach. We’re talking about human lives, not commercial contracts. But for Trump, everything is negotiable, everything can be bought, everything can be sold. Even the dignity of a people who refuse to submit.

Fifty days, then ten, then nothing

On July 14, 2025, Trump changes his strategy. Gone is the nice mediator; in comes the tough guy. He issues an ultimatum to Putin—fifty days to end the war, or else there will be massive economic sanctions and 100 percent tariffs. The world holds its breath. Will Putin give in? Of course not. The fifty days pass, and nothing changes. So Trump shortens the deadline to ten or twelve days at the end of July. New deadline, same result—nothing. Russian military operations multiply, strikes intensify, and the American ultimatum is consigned to oblivion. Moscow has long understood that Trump’s threats are as hollow as a balloon.

If you keep crying “wolf” without ever biting, you eventually lose all credibility. Trump has learned this the hard way. Putin watches him wave his arms and make his sensational announcements, and he quietly continues his work of destruction. Because he knows. He knows that behind all the noise, there’s nothing.

When the Aggressor Becomes the Guest of Honor

On August 15, 2025, we witness a surreal spectacle. Trump rolls out the red carpet for Putin at a military base in Alaska. Warm handshakes, knowing smiles, and pleasantries galore. Three hours of talks that yield nothing concrete, but who cares—the real point lies elsewhere. Putin gets what he wanted—time, legitimacy, implicit recognition. Trump calls it a “very productive” discussion; Putin describes it as a “constructive” dialogue. The two men congratulate each other while Ukraine continues to burn. “Next time in Moscow,” the Kremlin leader says in English. “I imagine that could happen,” Trump replies. That’s where we stand—the aggressor dictates the terms, and America goes along with it.

That scene made my blood run cold. Seeing those two men shake hands like old friends while thousands of people are dying because of one of them… it’s unbearable. Trump betrayed Ukraine that day. Not with words, but with actions. Actions that speak volumes about his true priorities.

Between Threats and Hugs

Three days after Alaska, a new twist. On August 18, 2025, Trump hosts Zelensky and several European leaders in Washington. Before the meeting, he posts a warning on his Truth Social network—Ukraine can end the war “almost immediately” if it wants to. The implication: agree to give up Crimea, forget about NATO, and everything will be fine. During the meeting, they discuss security guarantees, $100 billion in U.S. arms purchases, and a possible meeting between Putin and Zelensky. Everyone pretends to believe it. The Europeans make promises, the Americans commit, the Ukrainians hope. And then September arrives, and with it a new about-face that leaves everyone dumbfounded.

This constant back-and-forth between firmness and complacency makes my head spin. One day Trump threatens; the next, he coaxes. One day he supports Kyiv; the next, he flirts with Moscow. How can you build anything on such unstable foundations? How can a country at war plan its defense when its main ally changes his mind as often as he changes his shirt?

When Trump Suddenly Realizes Ukraine Can Win

On September 23, 2025, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Trump takes everyone by surprise. After a conversation with Zelensky, he posts a sensational statement on Truth Social. Ukraine could “regain its territory in its original form and perhaps even go further” against Russia. He compares Moscow to a “paper tiger” and claims that a true military power would have won this war in less than a week. Unprecedented. Unheard of. After months of going easy on Putin, downplaying Ukraine’s capabilities, and pushing Kyiv toward concessions, Trump suddenly discovers that Russia is weak and that Ukraine can prevail. Zelensky hails a “major turning point.” The Kremlin, for its part, speaks of results “close to zero” in Russian-American relations.

This about-face has left me speechless. Not because it’s surprising—with Trump, nothing surprises me anymore. But because it reveals just how much of this is all just a game to him. A game where he tests positions, gauges reactions, and adjusts his rhetoric depending on which way the wind blows. Meanwhile, people are dying. But that doesn’t seem to really concern him.

When Talking Is Pointless

January and February 2026. Negotiations resume in Abu Dhabi between the Russians, Ukrainians, and Americans. They talk, they discuss, they negotiate. Meanwhile, massive Russian strikes continue. On February 4, 2026, just as talks are set to resume, Moscow launches a large-scale attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Hundreds of drones and missiles. Heating and power outages across the country. Temperatures plummet to minus twenty degrees. Trump says he wants Putin to “end the war.” Putin continues the bombardment. The negotiators meet, exchange pleasantries, then return home having accomplished nothing. And the cycle begins again, over and over, while Ukraine is in agony.

These negotiations are a farce. A grotesque masquerade where everyone pretends to seek peace while no one is willing to make the necessary compromises. Putin wants to keep everything, Trump wants to save face, and Ukraine refuses to disappear. The result? We’re going in circles while the bombs keep falling.

When Words Are Worthless

So here we are. More than a year after Trump returned to power, the war in Ukraine is still raging. Promises of peace within twenty-four hours have evaporated. Ultimatums have gone unheeded. Negotiations are going nowhere. And meanwhile, Ukrainians continue to die, to suffer, to resist. Trump says he wants Putin to end the war, but his actions tell a completely different story. A story of constant flip-flops, diplomatic double-dealing, and economic interests that take precedence over human lives. Who’s making a fool of whom? The answer is simple—Trump and Putin are making fools of the whole world. And above all, they’re making fools of Ukraine.

I don’t know what to make of any of this anymore. I’m tired of seeing these men play with the fate of millions of people as if it were a game of poker. I’m sickened by this hypocrisy of talking about peace while letting the war continue. And I’m angry. Angry at this widespread indifference, at the cynicism that is eating away at international politics, at the cowardice that makes us all complicit in a tragedy that never ends. Ukraine deserves better than this. It deserves the truth, not lies. It deserves action, not empty words. It deserves for us to stop making a mockery of it.

Signed, Jacques Provost