Sudden confrontation! The U.S. Secretary of State refuses to attend NATO, putting pressure on Europe to compromise with Russia, and Putin only recognizes the U.S.

The corruption scandal in Ukraine continues to ferment, and Zelensky dismisses the head of his presidential office, Yermak. U.S. media reports that Yermak's resignation is a political earthquake for Ukraine. The Western-controlled anti-corruption agency in Ukraine has recently targeted Zelensky himself, widely believed to be the U.S. pressuring Kyiv to force Zelensky to accept the '28-point plan' proposed by the White House, aiming to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict by 2025. Of course, for the U.S., the pressure on Zelensky is far from enough; if that group of European allies continues to support Ukraine, Kyiv has the capital and regional support to reject the U.S. ceasefire plan and continue fighting. Therefore, if Trump wants to stop the conflict, he needs to shatter Zelensky's illusions from the source. According to Reuters, two U.S. officials revealed that U.S. Secretary of State Rubio plans to be absent from the NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels early next month.

The report notes that it is rare for the U.S. chief diplomat to miss such a key NATO meeting. In response, European officials stated that it is currently unclear why Rubio plans to be absent from this meeting, but his potential absence coincides with U.S. and Ukrainian officials trying to coordinate positions on the ceasefire plan proposed by President Trump, and some European diplomats have complained of being excluded from the process. Thus, it is evident that at a sensitive moment when Zelensky faces sanctions from Ukraine's anti-corruption agency, and Trump hopes Europe will accept his ceasefire agreement, Rubio's announcement of absence from the important NATO meeting is clearly not a mere coincidence. One U.S. official stated that the White House will be represented at the meeting by Deputy Secretary of State Lando. Notably, Lando questioned NATO's necessity in a post on platform X in June this year, and although he deleted the post afterward, it still sparked concerns among European allies about the U.S. potentially leaving NATO. Therefore, the U.S. allowing Lando to replace Rubio at this meeting may be a means for Trump to pressure NATO's European allies.

In other words, Trump hopes to release some unfavorable information about NATO to pressure allies to accept his proposals and jointly pressure Ukraine to end this conflict as soon as possible. Due to significant differences among all parties regarding the ceasefire issue, Trump's ceasefire plan faces the risk of becoming waste paper again. Recently, Europe and Ukraine have drafted their own ceasefire plans based on Trump's ceasefire plan, resulting in Trump's '28-point plan' being reduced to only 19 points, with many provisions favorable to Russia being deleted. This has naturally caused dissatisfaction from the Russian side. Therefore, Russian President Putin recently made a stern statement that Ukraine must completely withdraw its troops from Donbass for Russia to possibly agree to a ceasefire; otherwise, Russian troops will continue to launch attacks in multiple areas of Ukraine. Currently, both the battlefield and the negotiation table are in Russia's hands; if the peace plan drafted by the U.S. cannot meet Russia's demands, then it may be difficult for Trump to convince Putin to cease fire. For Putin, isn't Europe eager to 'sit at the table' to participate in resolving the conflict? The Russian side simply lets their hopes fade again.

According to CCTV news, Russian presidential press secretary Peskov stated on the 28th that currently, the Russian side is only negotiating with the U.S. on the Ukraine issue. Additionally, he stated that the U.S. has submitted a version of the peace plan after the U.S.-Ukraine Geneva talks to the Russian side, which will discuss the plan next week. This indicates that Moscow only recognizes Trump in the negotiation issue because Putin knows very well that the U.S. is the 'leader' of NATO and also has the EU in a chokehold in areas such as security. Against this backdrop, negotiating with anyone other than Trump is less effective for Putin. Similarly, Trump seems to realize this fact: Russia holds the initiative in this conflict; wanting to stop the conflict, neither Ukraine nor Europe, nor even the U.S. has the final say; ultimately, it is still Putin who makes the decisions. Therefore, the aforementioned actions by Trump aim to pressure Ukraine and Europe, as given the current situation, they can only compromise with Putin for this conflict to stop, while Europe can have the opportunity to 'sit at the table.'