Putin maintains the escape of Ukraine, Trump is convinced next to him

President Vladimir F. Putin brutally, walking a tight rope.

It seems that the Russian leader is eager to keep pace with the talks with President Trump with Moscow with optimism that energy deals and direct trips and lifting sanctions It can be everything in the future. It is expected on Friday that the White House envoy will host Steve Wittouf in his favor Their fourth meeting In three months.

However, Mr. Putin has made calls of Mr. Trump to a quick peace in Ukraine, with the virginity of Russian air strikes on the civil targets that seem to be increasing. Mr. Putin publicly admitted this week that Russia bombed a restaurant because, he claimed that people “deserve the most dangerous punishment” were “drinking vodka” there.

The result is the battalion game negotiations with Mr. Trump, where the American president threatens to move away while Mr. Putin continues to test his patience. The Kremlin still exudes quiet confidence, even though Mr. Trump is published on social media, “Vladimir, stop!” On Thursday, in response to a bloody Russian missile attack on Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, for nearly a year.

“We are ready to reach a deal,” Sergey F. Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, He said in an interview It was broadcast late Thursday by CBS News. “But there are still some specific points, and the elements of this deal, which you need to adjust it well, and we are busy with this process exactly.”

Overnight, Russia continued its air strikes. The Ukrainian authorities said on Friday that a large -scale drone had killed three, including a child, in the eastern city of Pavlurad.

In Russia, experts and people close to the Kremlin say that Mr. Putin’s account is simple: so far, the Russian president has been convinced that he has more than that in the battlefield more than accepting the deal that Mr. Trump appears to be providing. Even taking a temporary ceasefire, as Mr. Putin believes, means that many negotiating influence surrender to the point that it makes sense to do so after great concessions from Ukraine and the West.

At the same time, Mr. Putin-leader who loves to keep his options does not want to hedge his bets-in the imprisonment of the possibility of a settlement at the end of the war. And Mr. Trump, given it Clear sympathy with Mr. Putin and President Voludmir Zelinski hated From Ukraine, the Russian leader gave many reasons to believe that he could pay the envelope.

“For him, it is still important to leave a window of opportunities open, but not forcing the process,” said Gregory Golosov, a professor of political science at the European University at St. Petersburg, Russia, in an interview.

Mr. Putin believes that Professor Golosov, as long as he has the advantage of the battlefield, “can obtain benefits not only in terms of seizing lands, but also in terms of undermining Ukraine’s defensive ability and frustrating the Ukrainian population.”

In Europe and the United States, the Trump administration was widely criticized last week to determine the capabilities A peace deal, which seemed greatly deviated towards Russia. Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance expressed his willingness Learn about the inclusion of Crimea Russia And freezing the current front line, which is an actual acceptance of the profession of Russia for nearly five Ukrainian lands.

Mr. Trump said on Thursday that Mr. Putin will simply make concessions by “stopping taking the entire country” – a goal that analysts do not believe any opportunity to accomplish.

The current deal on the Trump administration will be largely applied to Mr. Putin’s stated war. The concessions offered by the Trump administration officials do not provide Russian control over all Ukrainian lands that Mr. Putin claimed to be part of Russia, and does not limit the size of the Ukraine army, Something demanded by Mr. Putin Since the first weeks of the war.

While Mr. Trump explained that Ukraine will not join NATO on his watch, the designs of Mr. Putin in the field of renewed Russian influence in Eastern Europe are much further. Weeks before Ukraine invaded in 2022, Mr. Putin NATO called All expansion stopped east He withdrew the military infrastructure placed in Eastern Europe after 1997.

As if from his point of view, the army of Mr. Putin has launched fierce strikes on the Ukrainian cities. Mr. Putin He confessed on Monday Russia has struck civilian targets because, as he claimed, they were used by Ukrainian and “nationalist” soldiers, as well as by “international values”.

“They are carrying gatherings, conferences, meetings in a restaurant, celebrating something, drinking vodka,” said Mr. Putin, in a clear reference to a Russian missile strike on a restaurant in central Ukraine on April 4. Nine children. Security footage showed The restaurant was filled with women who attend an event in the cosmetic industry.

The Kremlin also indicates that despite the brutality of the fighting, Mr. Putin can still make a deal by decline from some of his long -term demands.

In such a gesture, a newspaper editor in Moscow with Kremlin Connections, Konstantin Remchukv,, Pillar During the weekend on the pretext that the printing print of Mr. Putin Include four Ukrainian regions In the fall of 2022, the oscillation room gave him to accept the truce that freezes the fighting on the current front lines.

The reason for Mr. Putin is continuing to fight, as Mr. Ramschukov wrote, that he wants to expel the full Ukrainian forces from the Russian border region in Kursk, a batch that the senior military commander in Russia said last week that 99.5 percent had been accomplished.

“Once the last half is liberated, the forces can stop where the news is finding,” said Ramshawkov.

In a telephone interview, Mr. Remchukv said that Mr. Putin will be ready for the Ukraine deal because doing so will open the tremendous benefits of cooperation with Mr. Trump, including sanctions, the return of frozen Russian assets, and renewed direct trips to the West and joint energy projects in the Arctic.

“Why should Putin not stop fighting,” he asked Mr. Ramchukov, “If the pre -conditions of the foreign policy to do so were created in the form of the new president of the United States?”