RBC-Ukraine today shared a comment from a Ukrainian government official who said that the Americans want Ukraine's Defense Forces to withdraw from Donbas, effectively handing it over to Russia. Back in 2025, Putin demanded that Trump make Ukraine surrender Donbas to Russia, threatening to take it by force otherwise. Trump, apparently, was quite willing to believe Putin, since Russia had continued to advance in Ukraine, albeit slowly, even when American military assistance was still actively flowing. Trump figured that if he cut off aid and restricted arms supplies (and sales), Putin would surely manage to finish conquering Donbas within a year or so. More than a year has passed, and Putin has not only failed to take Donbas but has actually lost ground in certain areas. His offensive has effectively stalled along several key axes, while Ukraine has even carried out an offensive operation called Vivaldi. The operation not only allowed Ukraine to recapture territory and push Russian forces back, but it took place precisely where the Russians had been concentrating their efforts to complete the conquest of Donbas. It's easy to imagine the scene: Trump wakes up and receives his daily intelligence briefings, as every leader does. He asks, "So, how are the Russians doing? Have they captured Donbas yet?" And his aides and generals reply, "Actually, it's the other way around. The Ukrainians have pushed the Russians back." The US administration apparently believes (wrongly, but that's what it believes, yes) that Putin will agree to freeze the war if he gets Donbas. And this isn't speculation pulled out of thin air. It's literally what Rubio himself was saying even before Trump's latest policy shift: the Russians want Donbas, the Ukrainians aren't prepared to surrender it without a fight, and so, supposedly, we have a strategic deadlock. Trump decided to break this strategic deadlock by openly siding with Putin, who promised more than a year ago that he would finish taking Donbas but still can't get the job done. This has turned out to be a remarkably stupid decision, because Putin's continued failure to conquer Donbas now leaves the US administration looking like fools and carrying the stigma of betrayal. And that's not an exaggeration — even several members of the Republican Party have already described Trump's actions as a betrayal. The Republican Party, for crying out loud. As for Donbas, Kyiv understands perfectly well that Putin's ambitions don't end there. Let me remind you that Russia also officially claims the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions as its own. And more broadly, Moscow is unwilling to accept an independent Ukraine. It wants a Ukraine subordinated to Russia, in whatever form, but subordinated nonetheless. And yes, future historians will undoubtedly examine all the stupidity, shortsightedness, and pettiness of the current American administration in painstaking detail — because there's simply no other way to describe it.