Senior White House officials believe that some European leaders publicly support US President Donald Trump's efforts to end the war in Ukraine, but are secretly trying to destroy the progress that was made behind the scenes after the Alaska summit.
This is what the authors of the Axios portal write, citing their sources.
It is noted that two weeks after the summit between Trump and russian dictator vladimir putin, progress in ending the war has been insignificant. According to Trump's aides, the blame lies with European allies, not the US and russian presidents.
"White House officials are losing patience with European leaders who, in their opinion, are pressuring Ukraine to demand unrealistic territorial concessions from Russia," Axios emphasizes.
The newspaper also learned that the sanctions that the US is calling on Europe to impose against russia include a complete halt to all oil and gas purchases, as well as the EU imposing additional tariffs on India and China.
"The Europeans can't keep prolonging this war and fostering unreasonable expectations while expecting America to bear the costs… If Europe wants to escalate this war, that will be their decision," a senior White House official told Axios.
According to US officials, the Europeans are pressuring Zelenskyy to reach a "better deal" and to pursue a maximalist approach that, according to Trump's entourage, has only made the situation worse.
The Americans also believe that British and French officials are taking a more constructive position, but they complain that other major European countries want the US to bear all the costs of the war.
A White House official said Trump was seriously considering abandoning diplomatic efforts until one or both sides showed more flexibility.
Besides, some US officials have begun to see European leaders as the main obstacle, despite Trump's friendly meeting with them and Zelenskyy less than two weeks ago.
At the same time, a senior European official involved in negotiations with the United States over the war between Ukraine and russia was surprised by the criticism from the United States. He said he did not expect the US to believe that European leaders were playing one game with Trump and another behind his back. The official stressed that in reality there were no such differences.
In addition, he added that European countries were already working on a new package of sanctions against russia.
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