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The strategic objective is the war to end. The US doesn't give a fuck if Putin will take 30-40-50 percent of ukraine as long as there is a thin sliver of land left between poland and russia as a buffer. US has bigger leverage over Zelensky than Putin, so this is where they push.
You know US is getting serious when they cut off starlink, not missiles.
Trump's actions ensure "the war" will keep on going, in one form or another. Russian expansionism is not going anywhere any time soon, and Trump just gave it a boost.
Leaving aside less charitable explanations, Trump is more likely trying to put pressure on the EU, using Russia as a lever. His opinions on the EU are well known, and the challenge from the Russian side will likely be serious enough to lead to major shifts within the EU, potentially in a way that's appealing to Trump or Trump's circle.
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Or, to cut the crap, the US goal is a quick Ukrainian surrender and Russian victory. This will get the dead bodies off Trump's TV set. (There will still be dead bodies as Russia genocides the Ukrainian population of the territory they occupy, but the Russians won't allow the media to report on them).
If that is a US goal (or even if it isn't), they won't get it. A core Russian war aim is to turn Ukraine into a client state. Belarus doesn't work as a buffer between Russia and Poland, and a Putin-controlled Ukraine won't work either for the same reason. A neutral buffer state (pre-WW1 Belgium is the classic example) works because both sides understand that violating it's neutrality is kicking off the big one. Trump is committed to the idea that Russian violations of future-Ukraine's neutrality should not be a casus belli for the US.
If the US goal was a quick Ukranian surrender and Russian victory, Trump would have just pulled out the rug without all the rigamarole of meeting with Zelensky in the first place. Trump wants to make a deal to stop the war. So far all the Russians have been offering is "we take half now and half later". If Zelensky had managed to avoid Vance baiting him, probably Trump would have gotten irritated at Putin instead.
This is true, but no one is willing to make Russian violations of Ukraine's neutrality a casus bellum.
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...In the same way that at the end, the US goal in Afghanistan changed to being a quick Afghan government surrender and Taliban victory, yes?
I am willing to endorse an end to the war under any description you impose. I understand that people like yourself will frame my desire as cowardice, sedition, treason, evidence that I am a Russian/Chinese/Islamist/Nazi shill, that I want people to die. I understand that you believe that these next six months are critical, and that if we only stay the course victory is just around the corner, as the evil people who are Hitler Reborn will finally crumble and be routed in a glorious liberation, and then peace and justice will reign forever. I have been participating in this particular game live and in person for twenty five years, and have read a fair amount of the history of the preceding century. The moves are pretty well established at this point. People like yourself are always in favor of other people's money and lives being spent in unlimited quantities, while taking zero responsibility for the results. My vote is for no more.
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