Ukrainian lawmaker warns that Trump “can’t trade with Putin” because

A Ukrainian lawmaker told News themezone on Wednesday that President Trump should not address peace efforts with Russia. like a business dealsaying that the American leader must “understand that he cannot trade with Putin” as the “aggressor” in the war, which is approaching its four years.

Lisa Yasko, a member of Ukraine’s parliament from the same party as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, spoke to News themezone after high-level talks in Moscow between Putin and US special envoy Steve Witkoff. did not make any progress.

Yasko said that was largely due to Putin’s lukewarm interest in achieving peace.

“[Putin] “I was smiling a lot in this meeting with Witkoff, but it’s not at all about peace itself,” he said. “He’s interested in showing that he’s geopolitically active… how cool you are, how Americans treat you, and that you’re not a war criminal.”

“President Trump can be very transactional, in a good way too,” Yasko told News themezone. “But you can’t make peace with economic agreements alone. You can’t go so far as to please an aggressor. I think there are certain lines.”

Tuesday’s meeting in the Russian capital, which also included Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, was part of a concerted effort by the White House to negotiate a deal based on a Trump administration proposal.

That proposal was initially presented by the White House weeks ago as a 28-point plan, but Ukraine and its European partners opposed to calls for Kyiv to cede occupied territory to Russia, and to The draft was later modified. during talks with Ukrainian and European officials.

After Tuesday’s five-hour round of talks, Yuri Ushakov, a senior Putin adviser, told reporters that the conversation was “quite useful, constructive, quite substantive,” but that “we are no closer to resolving the crisis in Ukraine and there is a lot of work to be done.”

When asked by News themezone if he believed Putin was simply buying time by continuing to meet, Yasko said the Russian strongman’s true intention was clear: to change the global order and assert Russia as a key power broker.

“Putin is trying to achieve his new world order by playing a central role in the [global] economy with China and the United States and with other parts of the world,” Yasko said. “Now Trump is offering a deal with benefits for [the] Russian economy. “It’s crazy for all of us here in Ukraine.”

Putin, speaking before talks in Moscow on Tuesday, accused the United States’ European allies of hindering Trump’s efforts to negotiate a peace deal, saying he was not seeking conflict with Europe but adding that Russia was “ready for war.”

Yasko urged Trump to come and see for himself the impact of Russia’s full-scale invasion on Ukraine and its people, a trip that Zelenskyy has also repeatedly urged his American counterpart to take.

“He should come here first,” he told News themezone. “You should see what happened in Ukraine. You should see the faces, the eyes of the people.”

Yasko called the peace deal initially proposed by the Trump administration “insulting” to Ukraine.

Many European leaders have expressed concern that giving Russia what it wants in exchange for a ceasefire in Ukraine would set a dangerous precedent for appeasing a unilateral land grab and could encourage Russia to increase threats against their countries.

America’s Western European allies in NATO have already accused Russia of violating their airspace with drone flights around airports and military bases, as well as fighter jets. There have also been accusations of a widespread Russian sabotage campaign targeting key infrastructure in Europe.

Meanwhile, European leaders appear to have been largely sidelined as the White House negotiates directly with Russia and Ukraine.