Donald Trump's statements that the US will impose heavy sanctions on Russia if it does not immediately stop its war against Ukraine shocked Vladimir Putin. This opinion was expressed to FREEDOM by Dmytro Levus, a political scientist and expert from the analytical center “United Ukraine“.
The latest statements by US President Donald Trump that Russia must end the war, otherwise stricter sanctions will be imposed on it and tariffs will be imposed on Russian goods, threw Russian President Putin into a certain shock. He is trying to show that he is winning the war, but in reality he really needs negotiations, Levus pointed out.
„Despite Putin's words that he is winning the war against Ukraine, he understands perfectly well that Russia needs peace negotiations first of all. Putin desperately needs negotiations. Especially after Trump announced the number of deaths in the Russian army. At the same time, Putin is trying to pretend that negotiations are not important to him. This is a kind of psychological pressure on the opponent“, Levus explained.
Putin is trying to convince everyone that the Russian economy is in good shape, but this is simply not true. Dmitry Levus also pointed out that Putin wants to make Trump negotiate tete-a-tete, but negotiations without the participation of Ukraine are impossible.
„Negotiations to end the war against Ukraine without Ukraine cannot even be discussed. This is what European partners are also insisting on - Ukraine itself will determine who will be at the negotiating table... I think the US president also understands this“, said the political expert.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier that peace talks with Ukraine are possible, but without the participation of his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, and that he does not see any desire on the part of Kiev for such talks. Volodymyr Zelensky is not the legitimate president of Ukraine and cannot cancel his own decree banning negotiations with Russia, Putin said, quoted by TASS, in an interview with Russian state television. At the same time, he added that if there is a desire, there are ways to cancel this ban.