Trump has repeatedly caved to Russia by failing to follow through on his threat of sanctions if it does not come to the negotiating table. This is fostering a dangerous situation where Putin feels more and more emboldened to defy Trump and increase his aggression on Ukraine, creating a dangerous situation for the rest of Europe as well.
Putin is trying to deceive Trump in seeking to have dialogue with the U.S. leader. He is doing it simply as a means to reduce his global isolation while having no intention of ending his invasion. Putin only understands the language of force and this is what the U.S. must understand if it wants to bring an end to the conflict.
There is little point in having a trilateral meeting between Russia, the U.S. and Ukraine as things stand. Ukraine has made no effort to respond to Russia's proposals offered at the last round of negotiations which shows it's not serious about ending the conflict.
There's a 50% chance there will be a bilateral ceasefire or peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine by November 2026, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
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