President Trump\u2019s sharp criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday is sending chills across Europe, where leaders are working to guard against the worst-case scenario: Trump aligning with Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump blew past a deadline<\/strong> last week to impose punishing sanctions on Russia and its primary trading partners in exchange for the face-to-face meeting with Putin, set for Friday in Alaska. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And while the president has expressed increased frustration with Putin and Russia\u2019s attacks on Ukraine, he this week reverted to criticisms that Zelensky is to blame<\/strong> for starting the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c[Trump] is very unpredictable<\/strong>,\u201d Lesia Zaburanna, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament in Zelensky\u2019s Servant of the People party and the deputy chair of the budget committee, said in a call with The Hill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe highly appreciate all American support, and we highly appreciate all military, financial support. But if we talk about the situation with Trump\u2019s negotiation, we are not sure what we will have on Friday.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The worst case scenario<\/strong>, Zaburanna said, would be if Trump reached an agreement with Putin on territorial concessions without Ukraine, and a fatal blow for Kyiv would be if Trump withdrew U.S. support, particularly intelligence sharing on the battlefield and military support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Zaburanna described living in Kyiv now as similar to the first days of the full-scale invasion<\/strong> \u2014 nightly air raid alarms, massive explosions, menacing drone attacks, destruction of civilian buildings and mounting casualties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump has provided few details on his goals for the meeting, telling reporters Monday he\u2019s using the summit as an opportunity to \u201cfeel out\u201d Putin<\/strong>, who has so far rebuffed all his calls for a ceasefire and increased the pace of attacks on Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Zelensky told reporters this week that Ukraine could be asked to withdraw from the Donbas<\/strong> region to attain a ceasefire. Zelensky said he\u2019d received these indications from Steve Witkoff,<\/u><\/a> Trump\u2019s envoy to the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDuring the call, I said that I am not ready to discuss Ukraine\u2019s territories<\/strong>, as this is solely a matter of our Constitution,\u201d Zelensky added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While Trump has called Putin\u2019s ongoing attacks on Ukraine \u201ccold,\u201d<\/strong> he also offered criticism this week of Zelensky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI<\/strong> was a little bothered<\/strong> by the fact that Zelensky was saying, \u2018I have to get constitutional approval.\u2019 He has approval to do a war and kill everybody, but he needs approval for land swapping?\u201d Trump told reporters Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marko Mihkelson, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Estonian Parliament, described it as \u201cquite crazy\u201d<\/strong> that Trump was putting pressure on Zelensky instead of calling out Putin for launching the war. <\/p>\n\n\n\n