Vladimir Putin goes to a call with Donald Trump, who is confident that Russia has a hand on

The Russian leader, for his part, was not given any indication that he is ready to stop fighting as his forces slowly wandering forward in the battlefield, which led to concern in Kiev and other European capitals that Ukraine could pushed to abandon more.

“Unfortunately, where we are in the war, do not see strong incentives for Russia to agree to the ceasefire,” Michael Kovman, an older colleague in Carnegie, said at a conference in Tallinn, Estonia on Sunday.

There is an increasing feeling that the efforts of the United States to impose a ceasefire are complaining and that European officials are not sure whether Trump will increase pressure on Russia or simply moving to the next challenge if they fail. Trump has promised to inform Zelinski and some of his allies in NATO as soon as he finished talking to his Russian counterpart.

Despite all the talk about ending the fighting, Putin is ready for a prolonged war if this is what is required to achieve his goals and is superior to the possibility of more US sanctions, according to two other people near the Kremlin.

“Trump wants Putin to agree to a truce, but he does not want it at all,” said Sergey Marcov, a political advisor who has close relations with the Kremlin. “But Putin is not concerned with the collapse of the talks. He is trying to maneuver until these negotiations continue alongside the military attack.”

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“Putin has been encouraged by his ability to submit the maximum demands of Ukraine without suffering from any dangerous response from the Trump administration,” said Bouta Ilias, a prominent analyst at PRIM, a strategic intelligence company in London.

“Putin does not trust Trump. But he will push Trump to consent with Russia’s view of a ceasefire.”

On Sunday, Russia has launched one of the largest drones against Ukraine since the beginning of the war, as Zelinski was engaged in a wave of diplomacy on the sidelines of the Mass in the Vatican to celebrate the provision of Pope Liu XIV.

He met with Vice President JD Vance for the first time since their famous bombing at the Oval Office in February. The whole thing was smiling while the two men shook hands in the Vatican and then later sat with senior assistants at the headquarters of the United States Ambassador.

Meanwhile, Trump made a follow -up phone on Sunday with Merz, Starmer, Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The leaders discussed the need for an unconditional ceasefire and Putin to hold peace talks seriously, according to Starmer spokeswoman.

Putin’s confidence in Russia’s prospects in the battlefield is inconsistent with Western assessments. After incurring huge victims during more than three years of fighting, Russia lacks capabilities to achieve Putin’s goals, according to European officials.

“The possibility of Russia to achieve its goals in overcoming these four areas by the end of this year is very low,” said Ben Bari, a older -Earth warm colleague at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “If the Ukrainian defense collapses, it will be very easy to get such an advantage, but at the moment this scenario appears very unlikely.”

This doubt is shared by many in the Russian army fighting in Ukraine, according to a person close to the Ministry of Defense in Moscow. In particular, the person said, that the drone forces in Ukraine have made it ineffective and ineffective for Russia to install large -scale attacks.

All this, the Russian negotiators put the strict site of Putin in Istanbul on Friday in the first face -to -face talks with Ukrainian officials in three years. They demanded the Ukrainian forces to withdraw from the regions of Donetsk, Luhanssk, Zaburizvia and Jechson, whose lands claim to its lands, but have never controlled them.

Putin’s danger is that he overcome his hand and demands Trump to provide him with more penalties to end what the US President “Blood Bath” in Ukraine called.

US officials in particular have referred to their European counterparts that Trump is considering allowing the Penal Code prepared by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham to progress if Russia may not budge and Putin may tell that he cannot prevent this, according to European officials familiar with the matter.

Foreign Minister Marco Rubio said in an interview with CBS. Facing the nation Sunday. “So I think this is just fruits now.”

Finnish President Alexander Stop, who once spent golf playing with Graham and Trump in March, said at the Tallinn conference he was “carefully optimistic” that Graham will launch his bill next week.

“This depends on how the conversation with Putin and Trump goes on Monday,” he said.

Bloomberg