Venezuela coup endangers EU efforts on Ukraine ceasefire

The US show of power in Venezuela could make a Ukraine ceasefire less likely, despite new Paris talks on Western peacekeeping troops.

In a best-case scenario for Kyiv, if US president Donald Trump could boast of victory in Venezuela, it might make him less likely to bulldoze Ukraine for another quick outcome, said Keir Giles, a British writer on Russia.

It would give Trump “less incentive to resume efforts to pressure Kyiv into accepting Russian terms for the sake of a ceasefire,” he said.

The US had belittled Russia’s relative military weakness after Russia failed to defend its ally, Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, prompting glee in Ukraine.

“It’s amazing how many jokes and memes there are … the schadenfreude here is massive,” said Artem Voitovych, director of Ukrainian security consultancy firm Olgian Strategies, speaking from Kyiv on Tuesday (6 January).

All Putin’s movements have been classified in a sign of Kremlin paranoia, he noted.

The US could not capture Putin from his palace in Sochi, Russia, for instance, the way it did Maduro and his wife from Caracas on 3 January, said Jamie Shea, a former senior Nato official, who teaches war studies at Exeter University in the UK.