German Chancellor Merz:
- There will be no meeting between Russia’s Putin and Ukraine Pres. Zelenskyy
What next?
More secondary sanctions? Can sanctions starve Russia of needed funds?
The writing on the wall after the Putin/Trump meeting was pretty evident. There was no ceasefire. The hope was for a Putin/Zelenskyy bilateral meeting, which really never got off the ground. Russia bombed away before and after the meeting. Putin wanted land.
EU/NATO/Ukraine didn’t want to give up land. Ukraine and EU wanted US security assurances. Russia did not want any foreign involvement and especially troops in Ukraine.