The Guardian view on Ukraine peace talks: Europe must ensure Zelenskyy can resist Trump’s bullying | Editorial

The US president's attempts to broker a deal fail to distinguish between the aggressor and the victim. No just agreement is possible on that basis

It wasn't quite the calamity of February, when Volodymyr Zelenskyy was publicly humiliated in the Oval Office by Donald Trump and his vice-president, JD Vance. But the Ukrainian president's latest visit to the White House on Friday was, by all accounts, a disquieting experience. Mr Trump's public musings before the meeting suggested that his stance had hardened towards Vladimir Putin, to the strategically significant extent of being willing to sell long-range Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv. But by the time MrZelenskyy arrived in Washington, the US president had changed his mind, instead lecturing his guest on the need to make territorial concessions to Russia.

So far, so familiar. Since being re-elected, Mr Trump has repeatedly resiled from following up tough talk on Russia with meaningful action. Faux deadlines for Mr Putin to make substantive steps towards peace have come and gone, treated with indifference by the Kremlin. Last week, the US secretary of war, PeteHegseth, stated that Washington was ready to impose costs" if Russia continued the conflict. But atwo-hour phone call at Mr Putin's request was enough to defuse that threat, and for Mr Trump to onceagain position himself as a neutral arbitrator between two warring parties.