‘They may be Russian some day’: was this the week that changed the war in Ukraine?

<p>As Donald Trump and his officials rip up three years of US rhetoric on supporting Kyiv, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is walking an unenviable diplomatic tightrope</p><p>Volodymyr Zelenskyy has had some tough weeks in the past three years, but this past one may be up there with the worst of them.</p><p>Back on Monday, in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/11/zelenskyy-europe-cannot-guarantee-ukraines-security-without-america">an hour-long interview with the </a><em><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/11/zelenskyy-europe-cannot-guarantee-ukraines-security-without-america">Guardian</a></em><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/11/zelenskyy-europe-cannot-guarantee-ukraines-security-without-america"> at his Kyiv offices</a>, the Ukrainian president was in a cautiously optimistic frame of mind. He said he had received “positive signals from the Americans” over upcoming negotiations. His team was working to fix a date for a meeting with Donald Trump, he said, and he was sure that the US president understood the importance of coordinating his position with Kyiv before talking to Russia.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/16/has-trump-made-the-first-move-in-the-ukraine-end-game">Continue reading...</a>