In fact, it was a nearly two-and-a-half-hour intervention by President Vladimir Putin—a last-minute attempt to stop all that dangerous talk about the supply of dangerous US weapons to Ukraine.
Putin reportedly stressed to Trump that Tomahawk missiles, which have a range that can reach major Russian cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg, would have no significant impact on the battlefield, adding that they would only harm U.S.-Russia relations, which he said Trump greatly values.
Putin also praised Trump as a peacemaker in the Middle East and beyond, according to a Kremlin aide.
Economic deals stalled again, and most importantly, a second face-to-face meeting between the presidents was agreed upon, this time in Budapest, Hungary. The leaders will once again try to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.
This meeting will inevitably be compared to the failed Alaska summit just a few months ago, when Trump gave Putin a red carpet reception but failed to produce any tangible results in terms of a peace agreement.
But now, buoyed by his achievements in brokering a ceasefire in Gaza and freeing Israeli hostages, Trump has hinted that his success in the Middle East, despite all the difficulties, will help end the war between Russia and Ukraine.
How, remains unclear. The Kremlin has not indicated it is prepared to compromise. Despite mounting casualties on the battlefield and increasing Ukrainian drone attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure, which have led to fuel shortages across the country, Russia has consistently rejected the possibility of ending the war in Ukraine until it achieves its maximalist goals.
This includes gaining control of large areas of annexed and not yet occupied Ukrainian territory and imposing strict military and foreign policy restrictions on post-war Ukraine that would essentially leave Kyiv at the mercy of Moscow.
There is no sign that any of this has changed since Trump’s latest call with Putin. But over the past nine months of Trump’s second term, the Kremlin has also learned that personal engagement and the possibility of a short-term victory can be as effective as any painful compromise.
Ukrainian officials gathered in Washington say it was the Tomahawk discussion that forced Putin to return to dialogue. That may be true. But Moscow is counting on the prospect of progress in peace talks alone to persuade a deal-hungry Trump to drop his military threats.
