Fiona Hill is a senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings Institution, in Washington. Under the first Trump administration, she served as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for European and Russian affairs on the US National Security Council (from 2017 to 2019).

How do you assess this new diplomatic effort by the Trump administration to mediate a peace deal in Ukraine?

It’s pretty obvious what this is: betrayal. It’s a betrayal of Ukraine and the trust it has put into the US. And it’s a betrayal of Europe and of the concept of collective European security. This latest effort was done not just behind the back of Europeans, but behind the back of the Ukrainians. The timing is clearly meant to take advantage of a moment of maximum weakness, because of the current corruption charges against people around [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky. But it is also based on a false perception that things are going really badly for Ukraine on the battlefield and the only solution is capitulation.

Things aren’t going well for Ukraine, but neither for Russia. Both are stuck in this horrific war. Putin’s determined to win the war one way or another. If it is not on the battlefield, then some other way. And this is it: winning in the information war and winning over the US President and his envoy, Steve Witkoff, to get what he wants. As for Trump, he has set a deadline for reaching this deal ahead of Thanksgiving. He wants this war settled by the end of the year and Thanksgiving is symbolic for him. But who the heck cares about Thanksgiving in Europe ?

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