Editorial: Zelensky Learns How to Deal With Trump

The Washington Post editorial board suspects Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky has been reading President Trump's old book The Art of the Deal. The way Zelensky has negotiated the US-brokered peace plan is a sharp contrast to his behavior back in February, when he "foolishly" bickered with Trump in the Oval Office, they write. When Trump's team first unveiled its original 28-point plan to end the Russian war, it was immediately clear that Ukraine could not accept its terms: It asked too much of Ukraine and too little of Russia.

This time, "the Ukrainians understood the gambit and acted accordingly," the editors write. They have since successfully worked with US negotiators to get better terms, the details of which have not been revealed. But all signs point to a deal Ukraine will accept imminently. (Russia is another question.) Zelensky didn't angrily respond to Trump's original plan or his subsequent threat to cut off all US aid if the Ukrainians rejected it. As a result, "Ukraine could still come out ahead at the end of this nerve-wracking exercise."