A single phone call will not magically end the war in Ukraine.
Conversations can now start. Exactly when and how they will conclude is not clear.
But President Vladimir Putin has already scored something of a diplomatic victory by simply keeping this phone call.
Three years ago he was in the political wilderness.
Putin's decision to launch a complete invasion of Ukraine on a full scale had made him a pariah.
The General Assembly of the United Nations has adopted a resolution in which Russia was convicted of his 'illegal use of violence against Ukraine'.
Russia was hit by thousands of international sanctions. The following year, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest for the Kremlin leader.
Regarding the President of the United States – when Joe Biden – he left no doubt about what he thought of his Russian counterpart, and condemned Putin as a “murderous dictator” and a “pure criminal”.
After Russia had launched his large -scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, there were no telephone conversations between Putin and Biden.
Fast forward to 2025.
A change from President has brought style change, a language change – and a completely different American approach to Russia.
Trump says that he “wants to work very closely” with Putin to end the war in Ukraine. He hopes that they will “visit each other's nations”.
It is clear that Vladimir Putin, who invited Trump to Moscow.
If that visit continues, this means a major shift in the American Russian relations. An American president has not visited Russia for more than ten years.
In many ways, Putin has already received what he wants – the chance to negotiate directly with the United States on Ukraine, possibly above the heads of Kiev and Europe – as well as the opportunity to place himself at the top table of international politics.
However, it remains unclear how far Putin will be willing to make a compromise.
Russian officials claim that Moscow is ready for conversations, but always refer back to Putin's so -called peace proposal of June 2024, which reads more as an ultimatum.
According to that plan, Russia could already keep Ukrainian territory that it has seized, plus more land still under Ukrainian control.
Moreover, Ukraine should not be allowed to join NATO and the Western sanctions against Russia would be deleted.
As a Russian newspaper said earlier this week: “Russia is ready for conversations. But on its conditions.
“If you drop the diplomatic language, it is essentially called an ultimatum.”
