Kyrylo Budanov struggled to contain his anger. For nearly three hours on October 9, the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration felt treated like a child by Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump's special envoy, who claimed he could teach him how to make money. The meeting at the luxurious Shell Bay golf club in Hallandale Beach, Florida, was nothing like the countless sessions in recent months aimed at building a peace plan between Ukraine and Russia.

"Steve," alongside Jared Kushner, the American president's son-in-law, preferred to talk business that day. The real estate developer dangled the prospect of a grand "regional prosperity plan" for the postwar period, one that would include Ukraine, Europe and Russia. The plan notably involved fully restoring the pipelines that transported Russian gas and oil to Europe via Ukraine. Kyiv would receive dividends, and the project would lower the cost of energy in Europe, Witkoff boasted, convinced he was holding in his hands one of those win-win deals that cannot be refused.

"Our model is not Belarus, but Poland!" the Ukrainian retorted, stunned by a plan that, according to a witness interviewed by Le Monde, would have made Kyiv beholden to Moscow. The meeting was interrupted. Budanov called Volodymyr Zelensky, concerned. The Ukrainian president told him not to let his emotions show. The meeting resumed when, suddenly, someone brought in a note announcing the "deal" that Trump had just made public. The American president pledged to buy nearly five million metric tons of Russian diesel. He was jubilant at the prospect of lowering oil prices to win over voters ahead of the midterm elections on November 3, which the Republican camp is approaching with difficulty.