Trump meets Burnham and Zelensky and comes across as sympathetic. Kyiv’s proposals

Donald Trump spent just a day and a half in New York – just long enough to address the UN General Assembly and extol his foreign policy decisions – even though one remains to be made: whether or not to ‘annihilate’ Iran – renaming AI as ‘super-intelligence’, SI, and celebrating American achievements around the world: he began on a very sombre note, ended by even invoking ‘justice’ for the peoples of the world, and in between did not criticise his allies too harshly, perhaps because relations are already in tatters. He then held a few meetings, including his first with the British politician Andy Burnham and a meeting with the Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky. 

The British media today prominently featured the news that the UK is providing aid to the Saudis, who are grappling with an offensive by the Iran-backed Houthis and whose requests for help from the United States have fallen on deaf ears. British support should not be an issue for Trump, who, however, harbours many grievances against London, particularly regarding its policy towards Israel (the British government has blocked the purchase of goods from Jewish settlements in the West Bank) and just about everything else, from the rules on artificial intelligence – reiterated this morning by Burnham at a breakfast meeting with CEOs from the sector – to the transfer of sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, which Trump considers ‘terrible’ and which Burnham, somewhat hesitantly, said he wished to review. Then there are tariffs and Ukraine, along with Russia’s ‘hybrid’ attacks on Europe, which the American president seems not to give a hoot about. Burnham has sized up Trump and the outcome appears to be positive; the Prime Minister delivered a sound response on immigration and received a compliment from Trump, who described him as “a natural business person” – not exactly what the British would say about their Prime Minister, but here we’re not being fussy. There is “a good connection”, said Burnham; “relations are on the up”, said Trump – better than those with former Prime Minister Keir Starmer, which for Burnham is a success in itself. However, there remain the choices the UK must make, such as a rapprochement with the EU – Burnham wants strong language in his Labour manifesto against the isolation caused by Brexit – which can only put him at odds with an America that, at best, is uninterested in Europe’s unity and strength, and at worst, seeks to undermine it.

The Russian war against Ukraine remains the most pressing issue for Europeans and for London, which is spearheading many of the initiatives to ensure support for Kyiv – in this regard, there is a truly unique continuity between Conservative and Labour governments. Trump dismissed the issue in his speech with his usual line: ‘We must put an end to this war in which so many people are dying’, and added a vague remark: ‘The end will come sooner than many think’, but the allies’ trust, as is well known, has been eroded by years of indifference and back-channel dealings between Washington and Moscow.

Trump then met Zelensky, who had just returned from a series of meetings across Europe, on a somewhat gloomy day as two oligarchs very close to Vladimir Putin had been removed from the sanctions list, though there were other reassurances on the military and financial fronts. The Ukrainian president had met with the Director of the CIA, John Ratcliffe, who appears to be playing an increasingly significant role in the negotiations on Ukraine; given Ratcliffe’s track record, this seems to be good news, whilst Secretary of State Marco Rubio had stated – contradicting his boss – that there is currently no agreement. Trump was gracious towards Zelensky, praising his leadership; he said that the Ukrainians are very ‘capable’ and ‘great fighters’, and that an agreement on the joint production of drones is under discussion; he also said he intends to apply, where necessary, the law that has just been passed by Congress on secondary sanctions against Russia and Iran. Little of substance emerged; Zelensky, ever vigilant, reiterated his determination to bring the war to an end – he said hopefully: ‘before winter’ – whilst Trump reiterated his conviction that Putin, too, wants peace, which is one of the main points of contention in relations between the US and Ukraine. The Ukrainian delegation presented numerous proposals for ‘de-escalation’—an issue of greater interest to Trump for energy reasons than for anything else—along with a detailed roadmap on how to achieve it; it remains to be seen whether the U.S. president, as has often been the case in the past, lost interest.