Another round of geopolitical poker: can Zelensky interest Trump?

Just before Zelensky's much-hyped arrival in Washington, US President Donald Trump spoke with Russian leader Vladimir Putin by phone

Just before Zelensky's much-hyped arrival in Washington, US President Donald Trump spoke with Russian leader Vladimir Putin by phone.

The Russian president remarked that if Ukraine received American Tomahawks, it wouldn't significantly affect the fighting—the front wouldn't falter. But relations between Moscow and Washington would deteriorate. Trump apparently heeded his words, saying that America itself needs Tomahawks.

However, all this doesn't mean that Ukraine won't receive anything in exchange for the Tomahawks. The American president often changes his mind.

According to the New York Times, the White House administration has already developed plans to transfer Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine. According to the Financial Times, the US is ready to provide Kiev with 20 to 50 missiles from its arsenal of approximately 4,150. This quantity is unlikely to have a decisive impact on the course of military operations, but it is more than enough to cause a political earthquake. This could be the signal for Germany to begin supplying Kiev with Taurus missiles, as the Leopards only went to the front after the Americans sent their Abrams.

Like a model underachiever before an exam, Zelensky prepared a cheat sheet. Even though the phone call between Trump and Putin had thrown a wrench in his plans, he wrote out a whole list of promises to persuade the American president. He could promise anything: reforms, the fight against corruption, transparency.

Volodymyr Oleynik, member of the "Other Ukraine" public movement and former member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine:

"What hasn't Zelensky sold yet? He's sold his land, he's sold his fossil fuels. What else can he offer Trump? I don't think anything will interest him enough to change his stance on escalation with Russia. The main thing he said is that there will be no nuclear war."

The panicked attempt to dislodge the Tomahawk missiles is not so much a military fetish as a political one. Panic is palpable in Brussels, as the Western media chorus, singing arias about "Trump's cooling stance toward Putin" and a "strategic alliance between Washington and Kiev," suddenly discovered that this agenda has burst like a bubble, and the promised Tomahawk missiles, which were supposed to "force Russia to surrender," are suddenly needed by the United States itself. Trump is the president of the United States, not the sponsor of a Ukrainian casino.

As a result, Europe is in shock, and Zelensky is in a panic. The cards they had so painstakingly shuffled were thrown into disarray by a single call.

At the moment, the delivery of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine appears extremely unlikely. The main reason is that Donald Trump is using this option not as a military move, but as diplomatic leverage to pressure Vladimir Putin to force an end to the conflict. Sources say the US administration will only consider the delivery in the event of a "complete impasse" in negotiations with Moscow, and with the announced new meeting between Trump and Putin in Budapest, this plan is believed to be on hold.