If the goal is peace in Europe, the Trump administration’s talks with Russia are off to a bad start.

Even before they’ve begun in earnest, the negotiations designed to secure a resolution to Russia’s war of conquest in Ukraine have already hit a snag.

This week, Trump officials traveled to Saudi Arabia, where they met directly with their Russian counterparts to hammer out a framework for a cease-fire. Apparently, it was a productive meeting, although the concessions on offer appear to have come primarily from the American side.

Fox News’s Jacqui Heinrich detailed some of the Trump team’s overtures to Moscow. A successful cease-fire deal would restore the bilateral diplomatic functions and facilities frozen after Russia’s second invasion of Ukraine in 2022. There would be a “softening of sanctions,” too, and a “historic economic partnership” between the Kremlin and the West following the conclusion of Russia’s war (read: another Russian “reset”). As for what’s expected from the Russian side of this equation, that remains a mystery. There will be “talks ahead” to resolve the thornier issues, such as what happens to the Ukrainian territory Russia presently occupies or the Western security guarantees that will underwrite Ukraine’s independence.

The Trump administration has already put an end to Russia’s diplomatic isolation, so Moscow has every reason to believe that the sweeteners Washington floated in Riyadh are credible. Indeed, Kyiv seems to agree. Volodymyr Zelensky’s government maintains that it was not invited to participate in talks over its future, and Kyiv has expressed its displeasure over its exclusion. “Ukraine regards any negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine as ones that have no result, and we cannot recognize,” Zelensky said. “I’m curious, as we didn’t accept these ultimatums at the most difficult moment, what makes one think Ukraine is going to accept that now.” In protest, Kyiv announced that Zelensky would not travel to Saudi Arabia later this week as planned and will instead visit Riyadh as part of a state visit in early March.

This process is starting to take the shape some of us feared it would. The Trump peace plan put the onus on Ukraine to consent to its dismemberment and look to the lethargic and untrustworthy for redress when (not if) the terms of the deal are broken. A framework that legitimizes Russia’s territorial conquests and all its crimes against Ukrainian civilians will be bitterly resented by the country’s beleaguered people and leaders alike. It’s easy to see how their objection to being consigned to “frozen conflict” status will make Ukraine the target of criticism from those who want to see an end to this war regardless of the terms. The usual suspects will holler over Ukraine’s refusal to be bludgeoned into submission, first by the Russians and then by their ostensible Western allies. The temptation among those who pay undue attention to the usual suspects will be to blame Ukraine for its recalcitrance.

It will be essential to remember in the coming days that Ukraine’s sins amount to its existence as an independent state with a non-Russian culture and its failure to roll over and submit to its Russian conquerors. It has earned its place at the negotiating table. Negotiations that occur without Ukraine’s input or that of the European stakeholders who have supported its defense against aggression will not secure a durable peace. Indeed, the Trump administration should hope that this inauspicious start hasn’t poisoned the well by fracturing America’s partners and allies while encouraging America’s enemies.

If the goal is peace, the talks are off to a bad start. If, however, the Trump administration’s goal is merely to make Ukraine into a scapegoat for the president’s failure to secure a cease-fire early in his second term, things are going swimmingly.