Poroshenko says he will meet with Trump today in Brussels

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told reporters at
the NATO summit in Brussels that he will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump
today, the eurointegration.com.ua news site said. He said he hopes to discuss
Trump’s July 16 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I don’t fear
anything,” Poroshenko said regarding Trump’s intentions. “And we have very
strong statements and a strong position, both from the State Department as well
as from the White House, on support for Ukraine and its independence.”

The NATO summit declaration reiterated its support for
Ukraine amid ongoing Russian military aggression. “Russia’s aggressive actions,
including the threat and use of force to attain political goals, challenge the
Alliance and are undermining Euro-Atlantic security and the rules-based
international order,” the statement said. The declaration reiterated NATO
support for Ukraine’s aspirations to join the organization, but didn’t confirm
Ukraine’s aspirant status after Ukraine was included in its list of aspirant
countries in March.

Russian law enforcement has intercepted nearly 100
Ukrainian vessels in the Azov Sea since late April, Infrastructure Minister
Volodymyr Omelian told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in an interview on July
12. “We see that this is a deliberate policy of the Russian Federation oriented
towards blocking access to the Azov Sea, practically ruining the economy of two
seaports – Berdiansk and Mariupol, and causing an escalation in the region’s
instability,” he said. “People will understand that they will lose their jobs,
salaries and traditional businesses and that will work in the Kremlin’s favor.”

Zenon Zawada: We expect
Poroshenko will update Trump on the situation with Russian aggression,
including the latest pressure on merchant vessels
entering the Azov Sea, the situation with the Nord Stream 2 pipeline (against
which Trump boldly adopted Ukraine’s criticism yesterday), Russia’s ongoing
persecution of political opponents in Crimea and the need to free Ukrainian
political prisoners in Russia, including the film director Oleg Sentsov, whose
hunger strike is approaching its second month.

Trump has tried to find common points of understanding
with both sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. While he has recognized Russian
aggression in Ukraine, bolstered sanctions against Russia and provided Ukraine
with defensive armaments, he has also expressed empathy with Russia’s claims to
Crimea, despite the illegal nature of the annexation. Trump understands that
the West risks a continental war if it forces Russia to withdraw from Crimea.

No matter what public statements are made after the July
16 summit, we won’t know what was truly agreed upon, given the two leaders will
have met privately. We expect Trump will use this meeting
to bolster their relationship and try to find common grounds of cooperation and
areas of compromise on their foreign policy goals throughout the world,
particularly in the Middle East and the Muslim world.

Though Putin has stated that Crimea will not be up for
discussion, we
believe that he is posturing ahead of the talks and that Crimea will be
referred to, at least indirectly. We expect Trump will indicate to Putin that
he can’t relax sanctions yet, especially with pressure from the Western
establishment, but he will be able to overlook the Crimean question (without
granting official recognition) in order to achieve common foreign policy goals.