Putin Delays Ukraine Ceasefire in Bid to Win Trump’s Partnership
Vladimir Putin used his phone call with Donald Trump on Tuesday to say that the U.S. could be played by Russia — literally.
Putin was talking about ice hockey, but it also referred to Trump’s efforts to secure a quick ceasefire in Ukraine, whose government fears the U.S. president will agree to major concessions demanded by the Kremlin to seal the truce.
The Russian president, who plays ice hockey with a close circle of allies and aides, floated the idea of staging a match between U.S. and Russian players, according to the Kremlin, which said Trump supported it. That’s because the Kremlin and White House readouts of the Trump-Putin call both emphasized the potential for economic and political cooperation. “Full legitimacy of cooperation” between the U.S. and Russia on international issues including the Middle East was the most important outcome of the call, Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said on Telegram.
Putin has shifted U.S. relations “away from direct dependence on the Ukraine conflict” and turned Trump’s call for a ceasefire to his advantage, while an offer to host a hockey game has helped “detoxify” Russia, he said. The Russian president’s rejection of Trump’s call for a full 30-day ceasefire is a setback for U.S. efforts to end the three-year war, even as both sides have agreed to resume negotiations. Putin’s demand to halt foreign military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine as a “key condition” for advancing diplomacy risks driving a wedge between the U.S. and Europe over support for Kyiv, while Russian troops continue to fight on the battlefield.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told reporters during a visit to Finland that he would speak by phone with Trump on Wednesday to discuss the U.S. leader’s conversation with Putin. Read more: Putin Says He Wants Arms Shipments to Ukraine Halted in Order to Reach Trump Ceasefire After Putin agreed to halt attacks on energy infrastructure as his only concession to Trump’s demands for a ceasefire, Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine were targeted by Russian drone strikes overnight.
Source: Bloomberg
