A former Trump adviser has claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin will walk out of his summit with the US president as a ‘loser.’
Robert O’Brien, who was the national security adviser during President Donald Trump’s initial term, discussed with CNN’s Jessica Dean on Saturday the anticipated meeting between Trump and Putin aimed at negotiating a ceasefire in Ukraine.
According to O’Brien, the mere willingness of Putin to engage in discussions with Trump highlights the ‘total failure’ of Russia’s military incursion into Ukraine, which started in February 2022.
“Putin aimed to acquire all of Ukraine, including its 30 million people, intending to assimilate them into Russian society,” O’Brien explained regarding Putin’s objectives with the invasion.
O’Brien further elaborated that Putin is now confronted with essentially the same situation he faced when the Obama administration conceded Crimea along with Donetsk and Luhansk to him, failing to achieve significant advancements. “This isn’t a win for Putin,” the former adviser asserted.
‘He’s had this [deal] and he’s now lost a million men in four years, basically getting what he had in 2014 from Obama.
‘So I think it’s a total failure for Putin,’ he said.
‘But Trump will let him save face,’ O’Brien claimed. ‘He’s very gracious, he’s very charming, but Putin’s gonna walk of of this [the] loser.’
Robert O’Brien remarked that President Trump will likely emerge from the summit looking stronger, while Putin might leave the negotiations as a “loser,” given the lack of progress Russia has made with its military aims.
He highlighted to CNN’s Jessica Dean that Putin’s willingness to negotiate with Trump stands as evidence of the Russian military campaign’s lack of success in Ukraine.
O’Brien, who is now chairman of American Global Strategies LLC, also argued that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky does not need to be present at the upcoming summit in Alaska, as the White House considers inviting him.
‘Yes, the matter can’t be resolved without Ukraine, but President Trump has met with Zelensky alone several times, including at the Vatican,’ O’Brien said.
‘And so he’s put himself in the position to mediate this dispute, which is what President Trump really wants.
‘He’s a peacemaker,’ O’Brien claimed. ‘He wants the military deaths to stop and he wants to get this case resolved.’
But the former adviser also noted that Zelensky will likely have to agree to cede some land, as Putin does not seem to want to budge on his demand for control of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, Kherson and Crimea.
‘And so look, if Ukraine gives up nothing more than the Russian-speaking territories of Ukraine and Crimea, which was historically Russian to begin with, that’s a win for Ukraine.’
However, Zelensky has been adamant that his country will not cede land in the negotiations.
‘Of course we will not give Russia any awards for what it has done,’ he said Saturday morning. ‘The Ukrainian people deserve peace.’
He noted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky does not have to be at the upcoming summit, as President Trump has met with him several times already
He had also warned that ‘decisions without Ukraine’ would not bring peace to the region.
Writing on social media the Ukrainian President said: ‘Any decisions against us, any decisions without Ukraine, are also decisions against peace. They will achieve nothing.
‘Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier.’
He said Ukraine was ‘ready for real decisions that can bring peace’ but said it should be a ‘dignified peace’, without giving any details.
Reflecting on the upcoming meeting, President Trump has admitted ‘it’s very complicated.’
The president has long wanted to end the war in Ukraine, often promising on the campaign trail last year that he would end the conflict on day one of his presidency if he were elected.
Trump’s frustration with Putin has grown as the fighting has worn on months into his second term. A serviceman is pictured here collecting the wreckage of a Russian missile that hit a residential neighborhood in Kharkiv
A sign warns of mine danger outside residential buildings bombed by Russian forces on August 10
Trump’s frustration with Putin has grown as the fighting has worn on months into his second term.
In late July, he began to turn the heat up on Russia, saying he was giving the country 10 or 12 days to restart peace talks with Ukraine.
If that condition was not met, he said he was prepared to hit Russia with economic sanctions.
Originally, Trump gave Putin a 50-day deadline and threatened to bring stiff economic penalties on Russia if it did not end hostilities with Ukraine. That would’ve meant a target date of early September for Putin to make a decision.
