MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/. Further successful advances by Russian troops, the weakening of Vladimir Zelensky’s regime, and US President Donald Trump’s desire to end the Ukrainian conflict could lead to a successful resolution by the end of 2025, American political commentator Steve Gill told TASS.

"The continued progress of Russia on the battlefield combined with the slipping grasp on power that Zelensky has in Ukraine, combined with Trump's desire to finally end the conflict with a long-term solution, suggest to me that the negotiations will finally reach a successful conclusion sometime before the end of the year, but not sooner," Gill, who served as a director of intergovernmental affairs for the US trade representative in the Executive Office of the President under both George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations, said.

According to the expert, "President Trump seems to be asking for an accurate accounting of where the hundreds of billions of dollars in American funds sent to Ukraine have ended up." Meanwhile, in the United States, "more media and elected officials in the US are also beginning to ask the same question, finally."

Gill noted that the European "coalition of the willing" to provide further military and financial aid to Kiev is fraying, while Western media acknowledge that Zelensky has lost control of the domestic situation. "We are just seeing the first breakdown in the western media reporting only one side about the conflict as there is finally acknowledgment that Zelensky may be losing political power within Ukraine, and that financial and political fatigue from the west is increasing. President Trump promised that weapons would flow to Ukraine again, but with western Europe paying for them. Then several of the western European nations balked at providing the promised payments," Gill pointed out.

Russia-Ukraine talks

The first round of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine was held in Istanbul on May 16, where the sides agreed on exchanging prisoners on the "1,000 for 1,000" formula and submitting memorandums on the aspects of overcoming the crisis.

The second round of resumed direct negotiations was also held in Istanbul on June 2. Following it, the sides exchanged peace terms as well as agreed on exchanging severely injured prisoners of war and the bodies of deceased servicemen. Moscow also handed over to Kiev several thousand bodies of fallen soldiers.

A third round of direct Russia-Ukraine talks on the Ukrainian settlement took place in Istanbul on July 23. Before a collective meeting, delegation heads Russian Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky and Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, held a one-on-one conversation. The collective meeting lasted about 40 minutes during which the sides discussed the positions outlined in draft memorandums.