Updated by Faith Barbara.N. Ruhinda at 15:57 EAT on Wednesday 19th March 2025

In the run up to today’s call, Donald Trump made a big deal of his conversation with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

But the results look like there’s little to shout about.

The Russian president has given the US leader just enough to claim that he made progress towards peace in Ukraine, without making it look like he was played by the Kremlin.

Trump can point to Putin’s pledge to halt attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for 30 days. If that actually happens, it will bring some relief to civilians.

After three years as a pariah in the western world, and frosty relations long before that, Russia is back dealing directly with a US administration that wants to engage.

The two leaders are even discussing Middle East peace and “global security”.

Ahead of the call, some wondered whether Donald Trump might actually pile some pressure on Russia. After all, it’s been clear for over a week that it was stalling on the ceasefire.

But there’s no sign of a dressing down for Putin like the one Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky had to endure in the Oval Office a fortnight ago.

Russia repeats that it wants peace. But instead of grounding its drones and silencing its guns, it’s quibbling over how a still non-existent ceasefire might be monitored.

Meanwhile, it’s adding even more conditions aimed at crippling Kyiv’s ability to resist.

One demand is that the flow of both weapons and intelligence to Ukraine from its allies has to cease.

They can also point to the call as more proof that Russia has no interest in ending its invasion.

But all that talking will bring Ukraine minimal relief from its suffering.

But for the Kremlin it will feel like a pretty decent day, the kind unimaginable before Donald Trump returned to the White House.

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