The U.S. president has made concession after concession to Putin without requiring any reciprocity, sending a glaring message of weakness,” Rubin writes.

Recent diplomatic efforts involving Russia, Ukraine, and the United States have failed to produce a breakthrough in the ongoing conflict, with differing stances on key issues like territorial integrity and conditions for peace talks remaining significant obstacles.

Ukraine will ask the EU next week to consider big new steps to isolate Moscow, including seizing Russian assets and bringing in sanctions for some buyers of Russian oil, as U.S. President Donald Trump has backed off from tightening sanctions.

Ukraine has a sizable minority of Russian speakers, largely in the east. They also overwhelmingly blame Russia for hostilities.

A Ukrainian drone attack has killed at least seven people in Kherson and a Russian drone attacks on Odesa left two people sead, authorities said, hours after the United States and Ukraine signed a controversial minerals deal.