Putin plays Trump off a break

Stripped of diplomatic pieties and Donald Trump’s usual self-promoting hyperbole, the significance of the US President’s two-hour phone call with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday Washington time (Wednesday AEDT) underlined the real obstacle to peace in Ukraine. And that is not President Volodymyr Zelensky and Kyiv’s democratically elected government.

Earlier in March, Mr Trump bludgeoned Mr Zelensky mercilessly into accepting a 30-day blanket ceasefire, warning that if Mr Zelensky refused then Ukraine would receive no more US weapons and be blanked from vital US intelligence reporting, essential to Kyiv’s war strategy. Mr Trump hoped to get Putin to agree to a similar ceasefire to end the killing. He failed: Putin’s answer was “nyet”. All the Russian leader conceded, grudgingly, were minor concessions such as a 30-day break from targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

The White House, in its account, said Mr Trump and Putin “agreed this conflict needs to end with lasting peace”. Instead of giving any meaningful ground, however, the Kremlin’s version made it clear Putin’s price for even a short-term ceasefire was a “complete cessation of (all) foreign military aid” and intelligence sharing for Kyiv, and an end to US sanctions on Russia. Putin also demanded Ukraine’s exclusion from all ceasefire talks: he will deal only with Mr Trump. Such conditions, Putin knows, are absurd. They are set by a lawless invader Ukraine could never accept. They amount to rejection of Mr Trump’s attempt to broker a ceasefire and end the war. Yet the US account of the call contained no hint of pressure on Putin for his unwillingness to fall into line. Instead, the White House referred to the potential improved relations between Washington and Moscow and for “enormous economic deals and geopolitical stability” with Mr Trump back in business. Mr Zelensky and the valiant Ukrainian people are entitled to feel short-changed.

Mr Trump did not accede to Putin’s outlandish demands. He must not. As former British prime minister Boris Johnson – who is admired by Mr Trump and admires the US President in return – wrote: “He (Putin) wants to keep bombing and killing Ukrainians. He wants Ukraine disarmed. He wants to make Ukraine a vassal state of Russia. He isn’t negotiating. He’s laughing at us.” Mr Trump should not ignore that friendly fire assessment.