Trump Turns to Ukraine After Gaza Peace Success

Having secured a major foreign policy victory in the Gaza Strip, where his mediation led to the release of captives and the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas, US President Donald Trump is turning his attention to Ukraine. During his visits to Israel and Egypt, he has stated his intention to achieve peace there as well.

American and European officials are aware that the situations in the Middle East and Ukraine are different. While Israel is the dominant military force in its region, in Europe, that position is still held by the Russian Federation. Nevertheless, they hope that the US President will be able to seize the moment of diplomatic victory and learn the right lessons from the Gaza war.

It should be recalled that after Israel's air strike on Hamas militants in Doha, Trump put pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, forcing him to accept the 20-point peace plan and publicly apologize to the leader of Qatar. In turn, Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey increased pressure on Hamas, threatening to sever diplomatic communication channels if the group did not accept the proposed peace plan. All this was happening in parallel with Israel's military operations in Gaza.

Trump has not yet applied similar pressure on Putin. Ukraine and its European allies hope that the situation will change now that Trump has seen the fruits of his success as a negotiator in the Middle East, and as his impatience with Russia grows against the backdrop of months of unsuccessful negotiations. He has not yet imposed new sanctions on Russia, which is extremely important as the latter's economy is on the brink of crisis. Ukraine is also asking for "Tomahawk" missiles, which would further increase the pressure on the Russian Federation.

However, there is another factor that was absent in the Middle East: China, which has become a crucial economic and political pillar for Russia. Officials from various countries believe that Russia's growing dependence on China means that Beijing could play an effective role in bringing Putin to any peace agreement. But the question remains open: will Trump succeed in convincing China to take that step? At the moment, Washington-Beijing relations still remain quite tense.