Putin "plays with the desire of the U.S. administration to bring peace to Ukraine," Zahorodniuk said. "Putin wants to get the U.S. on their side to get all Donbas, something they cannot achieve without losing another few hundred thousand people and a year of time."

Volodymyr Zelensky told Donald Trump that "Putin is bluffing” as he discussed the obstacles to ending the war in Ukraine with the US President and other world leaders in a phone call today.