KYIV, Ukraine, Feb 22, (AP): As Ukraine approached the three-year mark of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the country’s hoped-for path to a favorable and lasting peace was upended in a matter of days by the administration of US President Donald Trump. Kyiv had benefited from years of staunch support by its allies in the United States and Europe which had provided crucial military and financial support to help defend against Moscow’s grinding incursions.

But when Trump held a lengthy phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week - undoing years of US policy to isolate the Russian leader over his aggression - it was taken as a signal in Kyiv and other European capitals that their alliance to contain Moscow was fraying. Here’s a timeline of events: On their 90-minute call, Trump and Putin agreed to begin negotiations to end the war, a move that was met with jubilation in Russia but which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had warned would be " very dangerous " if Ukraine were excluded from talks.

Although Trump spoke to Zelenskyy immediately after the Putin call, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that day that NATO membership for Ukraine, something Kyiv believes would protect the country and Europe from future Russian attacks, was unrealistic. He suggested Ukraine should abandon hopes of winning all its territory back, a perspective that is remarkably close to Moscow’s.

The breakneck speed of Trump's transformation of US policy toward Ukraine and Russia left many war-weary Ukrainians feeling that they were being left out of the conversation on their future, and fearing that a deal forced by Washington and Moscow would result in lost territory and vulnerability to future Russian aggression.

European leaders had their first chance to meet with members of the new Trump administration at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, where they hoped to gain clarity on Trump's approach to the war. But leaders were stunned as senior US officials including Vice President JD Vance lambasted European nations, gave mixed signals on support for Kyiv and suggested Europe would not be at the table for negotiations on Ukraine. During highly anticipated talks between Vance and Zelenskyy in Munich, the Ukrainian leader told Vance that his country needed security guarantees as a precondition for engaging in any talks with Moscow to end the war.