Has he finally realised Putin is playing him, or is Trump just blowing in the wind?

The images couldn’t be more different. In February, Volodymyr Zelensky was surrounded by Team Trump in the Oval Office and savaged in what many commentators described as an ambush.

This time, it was just the two men, sans aides, sitting on chairs in St Peter’s Basilica in what looked to be an impromptu meeting on the sidelines of the Pope’s funeral.

US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky talk before the Pope’s funeral.Credit: AP

Both sides characterised the 15-minute talk as productive, possibly monumental. But what Trump said afterwards commanded the headlines.

In a long TruthSocial post on his way home, the US president began by disparaging a reporter at The New York Times, claiming that no matter what he was able to achieve on the Russia-Ukraine war – “even if it’s the greatest deal ever made” – the Grey Lady would find fault.

He reiterated his view – a widely shared one – that former US president Barack Obama was to blame for Russia annexing Crimea in 2014 without much resistance during a moment of political and military turmoil in Kyiv.

But then Trump turned his focus to Vladimir Putin and expressed rare doubt about the Russian president’s desire for peace.

Russian President Vladimir Putin works at the Kremlin late last week.Credit: AP

“With all of that being said, there was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” he wrote.

“It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”

Many will scoff at Trump’s apparent naivety: that only now is he beginning to realise Putin might have been playing him.

Then there’s the sheer weirdness of the US president conducting this stream of consciousness in full public view, and seeming to outsource his next move to the pundits on social media.

But the crucial question is whether this really is a turning point in Trump’s thinking on Putin, or whether he is – as he is prone to do – siding with and adopting the rhetoric of whoever he spoke with last, in this case Zelensky.

Max Boot, a historian and senior fellow for national security studies at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, suspects it is the latter.

“I don’t take Trump seriously, and I bet neither does Putin,” Boot told this masthead. “It’s just empty rhetoric until Trump backs it up with actions, which so far he has not been willing to do.

“If Trump is finally realising that Putin is not committed to peace, then it’s time for him to bring the kind of pressure on Russia that, so far, he has only applied to Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomes Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, to the Kremlin for talks on Friday.Credit: AP

“The most meaningful pressure he can apply is to pledge to supply Ukraine with more weapons so it can fight Russian aggression and defend its cities from air attack indefinitely. I hope it happens, but I’m not holding my breath,” Boot said.

After all, Trump has surely been warned from the beginning – and from his first term – that Putin will fake and flatter his way through their interactions. Why suddenly realise this now?

For Trump to concede that Putin is stringing him along, he would have to part with his deeply held belief that he – and only he – can control and get the better of the Russian president.

Donald Trump with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during their Oval Office meeting in February.Credit: Bloomberg

Recall that in the remarkable Oval Office blow-up with Zelensky, Trump repeatedly asserted Putin didn’t dare break a ceasefire agreement while he, Trump, was president. “He never broke with me,” Trump boasted, though Zelensky tried to correct him.

Michael McFaul, a former US ambassador to Russia under Obama and a prominent critic of Trump on Ukraine, said the president’s shift in tone was great to see, but had to be matched by actions: more sanctions on Russia and more military aid to Ukraine.

“To date, Putin has made Trump look weak,” McFaul said on X. “Trump keeps giving concessions to Putin, and the Russian dictator asks for more. Maybe Trump is finally tired of being humiliated by Putin?”

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