The clock is ticking. President Donald Trump has just 50 days to make a Ukraine deal if he wants the recognition he craves.
He’s grown increasingly impatient with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s reluctance to “start accepting things” in a proposal his billionaire golf buddy Steve Witkoff crafted with the Russians. “Russia is fine with it… His people love it,” Trump told reporters Sunday night. Not really.
On Monday, Zelensky said Ukraine would not surrender the territory Witkoff had offered to Russia. The American envoy had apparently told Putin adviser Yuri Ushakov that Moscow could have the Donetsk region, according to a leaked transcript of their conversation published by Bloomberg News.
Witkoff went on to coach Ushakov on how to handle Trump, leaving little doubt which side he and his boss were on. The American envoy told his counterpart that Russia “has always wanted a peace deal” and suggested Putin call Trump and tell him “that you respect that he is a man of peace.” He had him at “peace.” Within hours the two presidents were on the phone.
“Peace” is the word that rings Trump’s bell. He’s made no secret that he considers himself the world’s leading peacemaker and deserving the Nobel recognition. That’s even more important to the ego-crazed president than winning the first (and probably last) phony FIFA Peace Prize, which he humbly hung on himself like a would-be Napoleon.
Trump has a deadline for inking a Ukraine deal, the end of next month. For deeds to qualify for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize they must have occurred and nominations submitted to the Nobel Committee in Oslo by January 31.
That’s around 50 days from now, and it’s been more than 350 days since the day Trump set for ending the war, his first in office.
Worries about Trump's bad deal
Zelensky is worried that for the transactional author of The Art of the Deal, the “art” is more important than the “deal.” The American president’s priorities are bragging rights and pleasing Putin; he makes no secret of his dislike for Zelensky and blames him for getting into what Trump derisively calls “Biden’s war,” one that “would have NEVER happened if I were President.”
Little wonder Zelensky is worried that Trump is in a hurry to sell him out. He’s not alone. European leaders also distrust Trump and his team to negotiate with the Russians, concerned that Washington and Moscow will cut a deal that leaves Zelensky and them out.
That was the purpose of Zelensky’s meeting with the leaders of Britain, France and Germany on Sunday in London. They fear Trump may try to carve up Ukraine to appease Putin. Zelensky emerged saying Ukraine would not surrender territory in the Donbas region, which Witkoff has reportedly offered.
Trump giving parts of Ukraine to Putin echoes Neville Chamberlain in Munich giving the Sudetenland to Hitler in 1938. Trump appears amenable to Putin’s demand to be rewarded for the war he started and be given more territory than he’s been able to capture.
French President Emmanuel Macron fears Trump might “betray” Ukraine in his haste to cut a deal.
According to the leaked transcript of a secret call on November 25 among European leaders Macron warned, “there is a chance that the US will betray Ukraine on territory without clarity on security guarantees.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz agreed. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said, “we must protect Volodymyr,” according to Der Spiegel, which said he seemed to be speaking of protection from both Putin and Trump. Finnish President Alexander Stubb said, “We cannot leave Ukraine and Volodymyr alone with these guys.”
Russian special envoy Kirill Dmeitriev, who has been working with Witkoff, mocked the German chancellor on X/Twitter: “Dear Merz, you are not even in the game.”
Trump is on the wrong side of history
The Europeans clearly see Putin trying to drive a wedge between themselves and Washington by playing to Trump’s narcissism and disdain for America’s historic allies. Trump seems unable or unwilling to comprehend the long-term threat Putin’s strategy poses to American strategic interests.
New York Times columnist Tom Friedman said Putin is playing Trump and his team of Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner as “useful idiots.”
They see the conflict as a real estate deal, while Putin sees it as conquest and empire building, Friedman noted. Their collective animosity toward Zelensky is matched by obsequious admiration of Putin.
Trump is not only on the wrong side of history but also of public opinion. The New York Post reports that public support for Ukraine has jumped to 62%, according to the Reagan National Defense survey. Contrary to Trump’s view, 70% questioned whether Russia could be trusted to keep its part of the deal, and 64% want to send more weapons to Ukraine. This comes as Trump’s approval ratings are hitting new lows.
Trump’s retreat from Europe and other parts of the world is spelled out in his just-published National Security Strategy (NSS). It’s a big hit in Moscow. It fails to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or Putin’s threat to use tactical nuclear weapons. Instead, it calls for the United States to “reestablish strategic stability to Russia.”
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, praised the NSS as “largely consistent with our vision.” He called it “a positive step.” The New York Times’ David Sanger sees the strategy positioning the United States as “something of a neutral arbiter between Russia and Europe.”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk reminded Trump that “Europe is your closest ally, not your problem,” and Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt said the document “places itself to the right of the extreme Right.”
It also signals a dramatic shift in US policy, supporting Europe’s rising xenophobic and neo-Nazi parties, signaling an even deeper rift with the leaders of Europe’s democracies. That shift should ring alarm bells in the boardrooms of American Jewish organizations.
Even if he succeeds in selling out Ukraine by January 31, the xenophobic boat bomber won’t be going to Oslo next December 10 to pick up a gold bauble.
The writer is a Washington-based journalist, consultant, lobbyist, and former legislative director at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.