Two hours. That’s how long Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone. That call happened last Monday. Apparently, neither man wanted to hang up. Both of them agreed to push for peace in Ukraine. And days later, look where we are—discussing a third world war. Talk about a rollercoaster week.
It’s gone from peace to global war in just over seven days. The question is, what went wrong? Has President Trump lost the plot in Ukraine? We’ll try to answer that tonight. But first, let’s look at the war front. What’s happening on the ground? Russia launched a major air attack over the weekend. They fired some 900 drones in three days.
Today, Russia struck Khiv in northeast Ukraine. Look at the aftermath. Ukraine has also been hitting back. Today they fired hundreds of drones at Russia. Some of them hit targets in Moscow. Not the best setting for peace talks, certainly, but not surprising either because tensions have been rising in recent days.
Look at the war of words. On Sunday, Donald Trump made a rare criticism of Vladimir Putin. He said the Russian president had gone “absolutely crazy.” Those were his words. And he said this after a Russian strike on Ukraine, the one we told you about. Then yesterday, Trump doubled down. Let me quote from his statement:
“What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia. And I mean really bad. He’s playing with fire.”
That’s typical Trump rhetoric. But the response did not come from Putin—it came from his close aide, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Again, let me quote:
“I only know of one really bad thing: World War II. I hope Trump understands that.”
That’s a big escalation. Medvedev is talking about a third world war. Naturally, the U.S. has condemned it. Trump advisers are calling it reckless and unfitting of a world leader—which is a rich thing to say when your president is Donald Trump. But that’s a different conversation.
The question right now is: How did we reach this point? How did we go from peace talks to World War III? Well, there are different parts to this. Trump’s anger is recent. It began after Russia launched air strikes on Ukraine. Clearly, that was not a good look for him. Here was Trump boasting about bringing Russia and Ukraine to the table, but then we had Russia striking Ukraine at will.
In fact, Russia is preparing a charter of demands—a sort of template for a peace deal. They haven’t officially published it yet, but here’s what reports suggest:
- Ukraine remains neutral.
- Written guarantees that NATO will not expand eastward.
- Lifting some of the sanctions on Russia.
- Unfreezing Russian assets abroad.
- Protection for Russian-speaking people in Ukraine’s east.
It doesn’t mention Crimea or Russian-occupied lands—maybe because Putin thinks those are done deals, or maybe he’ll include them later. Either way, these demands align with Putin’s initial goals. But will Zelensky accept it?
Russian and Ukrainian officials are expected to meet again soon. Perhaps that meeting will give us some clues—and a lot will depend on Donald Trump. Of course, he has three options here:
Option :1
Side with Ukraine and put pressure on Putin. Reports say he is mulling sanctions specifically on Russia’s banking and oil sectors. It’s possible, but unlikely to work. The U.S. already has some 7,000 sanctions on Russia. Clearly, that has not moved the needle. So more sanctions may not help.
Option :2
Put pressure on Ukraine. Trump can force Zelensky to accept Russia’s demands. Yes, Europe will resist, but the U.S. has enough leverage here.
Option :3
Trump can just walk away. This is looking increasingly likely now. Trump has already triggered a global tariff war. His plate is full with trade negotiations. Does he have the bandwidth to keep mediating here? At one point, he may just lose interest—and if he does, Putin will be ready to capitalize.
And that is basically the bottom line here: Russia will only end the war on its terms. Trump can mediate, Trump can mock and threaten all he wants—but Putin has all the cards.
