OPINION – Russia, Ukraine, Trump, Europe, summitMost Western commentators are claiming yesterday’s White House summit as a good result for the European powers. The second focus was to block the idea touted by US envoy Steve Witkoff that Ukraine should cede some territory not yet under Russian military control in Donetsk and Luhansk. Putin warned the West then that any discussion of Ukraine or Georgia joining NATO would cross a red line, but in 2007 precisely those discussions began. The US-aided removal of the Yanukovych government in 2014 led to Russian military intervention. For the European powers and their ‘coalition of the willing’ the key thing appears to be that whatever concessions are made to Russia, Ukraine becomes a bulwark against Putin, armed to the teeth, as much as possible by the US.