Donald Trump 'setting Zelensky up to fail' after Vladimir Putin's 'manipulation'

Many analysts believe President Volodymyr Zelensky is walking into a diplomatic trap. According to Tobias Ellwood, the former chair of the UK’s Defense Committee, Donald Trump knows there’s little chance of a genuine peace deal when Zelensky visits the White House. Instead, Ellwood argues, Trump is “setting him up to fail” while giving himself political cover to say he tried.

Ellwood told reporters that Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin last week was less about resolving the conflict in Ukraine and more about optics. Putin received red carpet treatment, yet the summit ended without even a ceasefire agreement. “Trump isn’t stupid,” Ellwood explained. “He knows the promises he made, and he’s already looking five or six moves ahead. I see him deliberately setting this up so he can later say, ‘I brought them together, but they refused to compromise.’”

The core issue, Ellwood argues, is that no Ukrainian president could agree to Trump’s terms. Any deal requiring Ukraine to hand over territory would be political suicide. “Zelensky would never want to be remembered as the president who gave away a fifth of his country to a bully,” he said.

What worries Ellwood further is the lack of experienced diplomats in Trump’s current team. During his first term, seasoned officials could prepare summits and deliver results. In this new term, Ellwood says, Trump has surrounded himself with loyalists who lack foreign policy expertise. That makes genuine diplomacy harder and increases the risk that Zelensky is cornered.

The consequences, he warned, go beyond Ukraine. A fractured alliance between Europe and the U.S. could destabilize the West. “We saw what happens when Europe and America aren’t on the same page in World War I and World War II,” Ellwood noted.

After the Anchorage summit, reports suggested Trump shifted from pushing a ceasefire to pursuing a broader peace agreement. Putin, meanwhile, stuck to his demands of holding Donetsk and Luhansk, while offering only limited flexibility in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. Zelensky has already ruled out ceding territory, making agreement nearly impossible.

For now, the war drags on. Putin calls the talks “frank,” but his military continues attacks along a 1,000-kilometre front. Zelensky insists sanctions must intensify if Russia avoids serious negotiations. And experts caution that Trump may not have the leverage to move Putin, who is playing a much longer game.