There is no foreign leader who has appeared more able to manipulate Donald Trump than Vladimir Putin.
The Russian president and former KGB officer appears to have mastered the art of dealing with Trump and drawing him back into alignment with Moscow’s view of the war in Ukraine — often at critical moments.
The pattern as been clear in recent months. Just when Trump edges closer to supporting Kyiv in its effort to end Russia’s invasion, Putin steps in to sway the US president, often with an offer of direct talks. The strategy revives a great-power dynamic reminiscent of the 20th century relations between the two Cold War powers.
Trump had in recent weeks signalled his openness to supplying Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, for example — a significant potential increase in US support for Kyiv.
But then came a call on Thursday between Trump and the Russian president — a day ahead of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Washington — and the promise of another US-Russia summit, this time in Budapest.
Whether Putin’s call was enough to derail Kyiv’s efforts to keep Trump on side will be known after the Ukrainian president’s meeting in the US capital.
But the Ukrainian delegation is already playing it down, telling the FT that they expect to walk away with few if any deliverables.
“As long as Putin is able to sell Trump illusions and is not ready to end the war, the Tomahawk and carrot method will not work. Because only the Tomahawk and sanctions method works with Putin. And Trump does not want that,” wrote Serhiy Fursa, a Ukrainian investment banker.
