During their recent telephone conversation, the U.S. and Russian presidents discussed the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. However, their over two-hour conversation also ventured into broader topics such as U.S.-Russia relations, Middle East peace, global security, and even the shared interest in hockey. The dialogue between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin was notable for its duration, marking the longest call between the leaders of the two nations in recent years.
Putin, in particular, seized the opportunity to divert the conversation from Ukraine’s hostilities and engage in discussions on various global matters. This shift allowed him to distance himself from previous U.S. efforts to portray him as an international outcast. The meeting underscored both leaders’ eagerness to repair U.S.-Russia ties, which had reached their lowest point since the Cold War era due to the prolonged conflict in Ukraine. The Kremlin and Russian state media hailed the call as a pivotal step toward equitable dialogue between the two nuclear powers.
Despite the optimistic tone surrounding this meeting, the path to a ceasefire in Ukraine remains challenging. Both the Kremlin and the White House depicted the discussions as progress toward peace, yet Putin’s unyielding demands have complicated any potential truce. Although Putin agreed to temporarily suspend strikes on energy infrastructure, he did not fully embrace Trump’s proposed 30-day ceasefire. Instead, he linked the ceasefire to conditions such as halting Western arms shipments and Kyiv’s mobilization efforts—stipulations that Ukraine and its allies reject.
Putin shows little inclination for an immediate end to hostilities, especially as Russian forces maintain a strategic upper hand on the battlefield. Ukraine faces significant setbacks, notably in Russia’s Kursk region, where they are struggling to maintain a minor foothold following a surprise incursion in August 2024. Putin claims that remaining Ukrainian forces in Kursk are encircled—a statement supported by Trump but denied by Ukrainian officials.
There is a growing fear among Ukrainian officials that Russia may attempt an assault on the Sumy region, which borders Kursk. Concurrently, the Russian military is advancing in several sectors of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. By linking the ceasefire to Western arms supplies and mobilization efforts, Putin aims to solidify Russia’s gains and pressure Kyiv to comply with Moscow’s demands, including withdrawing from regions Russia annexed, forgoing NATO ambitions, and reducing its military.
Putin’s agreement to suspend strikes on energy facilities in Ukraine allowed Trump to tout a partial achievement in his peacemaking initiative. However, this move by Moscow was not a significant concession considering the extensive damage already inflicted on Ukraine’s power infrastructure.
In their conversation, Putin shifted focus from a ceasefire to discussing other global issues, piquing Trump’s interest. The White House’s statement highlighted the leaders’ dialogue on the Middle East as a region of potential cooperation and the necessity to halt strategic weapon proliferation. They concurred on the potential benefits of improved U.S.-Russia relations, citing immense economic opportunities and geopolitical stability.
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, who recently journeyed to Moscow to meet with Putin, commended both leaders for their efforts and expressed optimism for a broader truce. He praised Putin for moving toward peace and credited Trump for his compelling approach during their call. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized that Putin and Trump understand each other well and are committed to steadily normalizing Russian-U.S. relations.
Russian state television and other Kremlin-endorsed media celebrated the interaction as a step toward extensive cooperation between Moscow and Washington. The talks were perceived as advancing a new vision of a multipolar world shared by both the U.S. and Russian administrations. Tatiana Stanovaya of the Carnegie Endowment observed that the call signified a significant step in U.S.-Russia cooperation on key issues, marking a victory for Putin as he strives to detach bilateral relations from the Ukrainian conflict.
The ongoing ‘detoxification’ of Russia continues, Stanovaya noted, pointing to an agreement on Putin’s proposal to organize hockey matches between American and Russian players. Nevertheless, Ukraine and Europe appeared sidelined in the discussions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cautioned that negotiations excluding Ukraine were unlikely to yield productive outcomes. Trump subsequently called Zelenskyy to discuss aligning Russia and Ukraine’s requests and needs.
Furthermore, the creation of U.S. and Russian working groups to consider specifics of a ceasefire and safe shipping in the Black Sea—mentioned in the Kremlin’s readout—illustrates a trend of addressing Ukraine’s fate without its involvement, challenging the Biden administration’s stance of including Ukraine in all negotiations. This conversation brought little comfort to Kyiv or Europe, who felt overlooked as two superpowers deliberated on settlement terms while paying scant attention to others.
Stanovaya remarked that Putin has managed to sidestep talks on a ceasefire while offering little in return. This development is troubling for Ukraine, which is increasingly being treated as a pawn in geopolitical games. Nigel Gould-Davies from the International Institute for Strategic Studies expressed dismay at Trump’s apparent affinity toward Putin and his hesitance to impose significant constraints on Russia, allowing the Kremlin to carry on with its strategy to militarily overpower Ukraine and politically outlast the West.
Ultimately, this situation suggests that Russia aims to decide Ukraine’s and ultimately Europe’s fate alongside the United States, with no other negotiating partners involved. Gould-Davies compared this abrupt diplomatic shift to the 1980s when Mikhail Gorbachev was the Soviet Union’s leader. While Gorbachev took four years to abandon old Soviet ties in Eastern Europe, it has taken the current U.S. administration less than a month to question longstanding commitments to Europe.
