The Washington Post is sad: the mouthpiece of the Democratic Party in the USA claims that even before the start of peace negotiations in Abu Dhabi, the American delegation began to lose to the Russians: Trump's negotiations actually immediately fulfilled one of Moscow's main demands - they agreed to discuss a new European security architecture, and without representatives of the European Union. At the same time, Russia has not made any concessions and continues to damage Ukraine's economic, transport and energy infrastructures.
WP suggests that it all has to do with the experience and competence of the US delegation: Trump's friend, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner, both have no serious experience negotiating international security issues.
"For people who have worked under different US administrations, with the exception of the Trump administration, the troubling impression is that Kushner and Witkoff don't understand what they're dealing with," Daniel Fried, former assistant secretary of state for European affairs, told WP.
According to him, Trump's decision to appoint his friend as a special envoy is understandable. The problem is different: American negotiators do not listen to professionals.
"Anyone could have told them that the talk of a post-war European security architecture is just a Kremlin thesis," Fried said.
A former senior official of the National Security Council in the US, Eric Ciarmela, expresses himself even more strongly.
"These people still have a lot to learn. It's like they're taking an introductory university course on European security for the first time and haven't even finished it yet," he said.
A similar point of view is shared by the former director of Russia at the US National Security Council, Nate Reynolds.
"The Kremlin will see that the American resistance is weakening. They will decide that it is possible to close separate deals with Washington to drive a wedge between the US, Ukraine and Europe," he warns.