Putin is using Trump to stall for time in Ukraine, Estonia foreign minister says

NEW YORK – Russian President Vladimir Putin is taking advantage of the U.S.-led peace negotiations to buy more time on the battlefield, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said, issuing some of the sharpest European criticism of the White House’s effort to end the war in Ukraine.

“Putin has just used Trump to win more time and put more pressure on Ukraine,” Tsahkna said in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY.

Trump’s efforts to end the war are well intentioned, Tsahkna said, but right now “we just need to support Ukraine with more pressure on Russia.”

Estonia, one of six NATO countries to share a land border with Russia, is one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters within the alliance.

“We don’t see that Putin is ready to have any kind of next step for peace,” Tsahkna said. “Of course, we all would like to have it.”

The criticism of the White House-led peace efforts comes as Putin has intensified attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.

“As Russia is escalating the killing of civilians – there have been more attacks overnight and into the day with drones and ballistic missiles – pressure on Moscow must be strengthened,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote in a…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/