BRUSSELS, December 4. /TASS/. The administration of US President Donald Trump has not adjusted the formal process for developing a policy on achieving a peaceful settlement in Ukraine; instead, decisions are being made as if it were "business," which may hinder progress toward an agreement, former US Permanent Representative to NATO Ivo Daalder (2009-2013) said.

Daalder described recent developments surrounding the Ukrainian settlement as a "rollercoaster." According to him, one reason for this is Trump’s attempt to reconcile two countries with diametrically opposed views on what constitutes acceptable conditions for peace, as well as the administration’s failure to establish a formal policy-making procedure.

The former diplomat notes that Trump is not the first US president to rely on a narrow circle of subordinates, but "what’s different here is that top aides in other administrations relied on an interagency process led by their staff to discuss issues, develop policy options and oversee implementation."

"Trump, meanwhile, runs the US government like he ran his family business — from behind his desk in the Oval Office, where he meets with everyone, calls anyone and then decides policy on a whim. And his aides operate almost entirely on their own," Daalder said in his column for Politico.

In his view, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State and Assistant to the President for National Security Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and Trump’s son-in-law and businessman Jared Kushner are the key figures handling the Ukrainian settlement. Of these, only Rubio has meaningful human resources at his disposal. The inner circle on Ukraine does not include the secretary of war, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or the heads of the CIA and National Intelligence, all of whom command substantial bureaucratic structures.

According to Daalder, the absence of a formal decision-making process has resulted in the "chaotic nature of the talks" in recent weeks.

"Ultimately, what drives all these US players isn’t a formal process or even a coherent assessment of what it will actually take to end the war in Ukraine. Rather, it is an unrelenting effort to satisfy Trump’s insistent demand to be recognized as the world’s peacemaker. As long as this continues, so will the chaos and confusion. And none of this will bring an actual end to the war any closer to reality," the former diplomat believes.