The phone call between Putin and Trump was full of implications and hidden messages.
Diplomacy, like time, does not forgive mistakes, and it seems the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, understands this very well.
With a strategic move, Putin contacted U.S. President Donald Trump on the afternoon of October 16, effectively canceling the highly anticipated meeting scheduled for October 17 (20:00 Greece time) between Trump and Zelensky in the White House.
In doing so, as many Western media report, Putin managed at the last minute to shatter Ukrainian hopes for U.S. Tomahawk missiles, reassert his dominance in the Ukrainian issue, and secured agreement for another summit with Trump — in Hungary, an EU country that opposes Europe’s dominant policy toward Russia.
This is yet another “victory move” by the Russian president, who forces European actors to figure out how he’ll reach Budapest; especially given that many European countries could close their airspace to his presidential plane due to the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes.
Nonetheless, Hungary assures it will secure Putin’s entry into the country.
The stage is set, and the players are repositioning themselves again.
Diplomatic blow from the Kremlin: Putin makes an unexpected move
The Putin–Trump phone call struck at the heart of European and Ukrainian plans: the promised Tomahawk deliveries for Kyiv have been placed in limbo.
In the Kremlin, they understand clearly that each week without U.S.-supplied weapons means rising Ukrainian losses and fewer Russian casualties.
Time is working for Moscow again.
The timing of the phone call was impeccable — just as the U.S. decided to escalate, threatening Russia with Tomahawks in Ukraine.
Without question, the Tomahawks will not shift the battlefield’s balance.
Russian air defense will treat them as it has the Scalp and Storm Shadow missiles before.
Maestro
Putin has handled this game deftly since restoring contact with Donald Trump after his presidency began.
The core message remains consistent: Russia is ready for peace, but only on its terms.
The more Ukraine resists, the more territory and population it will lose.
The Russians recognize that a rigid stand from Kyiv plays into their hands.
Even if Ukraine theoretically agreed to recognize five territories as Russian, the state of Ukraine would remain.
Over ten, fifteen, or twenty years, a more capable army would be built, with modern weapons and technologies.
Zelensky’s agreements would be retroactively deemed illega, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces would move into Donbass and Novorossiya.
Let’s finish it now
That’s why many Russian experts argue that Ukraine must be settled now, not postponed for future generations.
In this framing, the Special Military Operation (SVO) must go to its conclusion.
They claim everyone, including at the highest levels, knows the unofficial objective of the SVO: the total elimination of Ukrainian statehood.
No other compromise is possible.
Survival game until victory
In Western circles, there is the narrative that Russia will lose economically, that once its economy collapses, resources will vanish, and Russia’s military capacity will falter.
But economic collapse in Russia is deemed impossible; stagnation or recession maybe, but not collapse.
Another narrative says Russia will be defeated when Ukraine exhausts its human resources, a grim “until the last Ukrainian stands” logic.
From a military perspective, it’s true: resistance ends when no one remains to hold weapons.
All necessary support to keep hostilities going will be provided to Kyiv: defense products, economic aid, political backing.
Even if the U.S. stops, the European Union will continue to pump in resources — inadequate, but enough to sustain the Ukrainian army.
The question reduces to volume.
Putin’s diplomatic objective
Hence Putin’s main goal is to reduce — ideally eliminate — American support.
And it seems to be working.
The Russian president has already bought at least 10 months.
Trump fully halted Ukraine’s funding, and weapon deliveries have dropped sharply.
That means more losses for Ukraine and fewer casualties for Russia.
Now we see a new phase unfolding.
Trump was preparing to hand over Tomahawks and reveal a full military aid package to Kyiv.
Yet the phone call and agreement to meet again gave Russian troops breathing room at the front.
Whether for weeks or months is yet to be seen — but each day without U.S. arms means more Ukrainian losses and fewer Russian ones.
Timing is everything
As always with Putin, timing is key.
The initiative to phone Trump on the eve of Zelensky’s White House visit was no accident.
The Kremlin knows well that Trump’s shift toward Ukraine could allow Tomahawk use in Kyiv — a red line in Moscow’s eyes.
This was a direct attempt to halt the weapon supply, the escalation Russia sees as dangerous, and reorient Trump to Russia’s narrative.
Judging by the White House statement after the call, Putin succeeded to some degree.
"Productive" meeting
Instead of threats and condemnations, Trump’s tone toward Russia turned warm and accommodating again.
He described the phone call as “very productive,” claimed “great progress,” and, most importantly, announced another in-person summit would follow.
But is this truly progress?
After no real outcome from the Alaska summit, Ukrainians and European allies will doubt whether Budapest will be any different.
What comes next?
There is a chance Trump might ultimately grant Zelensky his military wishes in their meeting, but that seems unlikely.
If he does, Putin will be forced to respond, and Budapest may collapse.
The phone call and its results follow a recurring pattern.
As long as Trump appears ready to support Ukraine in more than words, Putin maneuvers to win time, even with zero sign of compromise or genuine concession.
History repeats
In March, Trump threatened a 30-day ceasefire; Putin countered with a proposal to suspend attacks only on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
In May, Trump tried again — this time threatening to align with Europe for mass sanctions.
Putin’s response: direct talks with Ukraine.
Don’t forget Trump’s summer ultimata — 50 days, then 12 days to end the war or face economic backlash.
Those deadlines triggered the Alaska summit.
Now we see the pattern repeating.
Putin’s plan
How does he do it?
His tactic remains consistent — offer Trump something he can call “progress,” served with flattery.
This time, he congratulated Trump for his “great success” in the Gaza truce, thanked the First Lady for intervening in missing children in Ukraine, and agreed (or proposed) a summit in Budapest.
Smiling at the European Union
If the Budapest summit happens, Trump will get a televised moment to underscore his presidency’s peacemaking credentials.
But perhaps the greatest gain goes to Putin, who will re-enter European territory for the first time since the war began, in defiance of ongoing EU sanctions.
You can already see his grin.
Dugin’s intervention
Alexander Dugin, the Russian political philosopher and Kremlin influencer, also intervened.
“The Putin–Trump phone call seems to have helped deescalate things a bit.
Trump withdrew the plan to deliver Tomahawks to Kyiv (which could spark nuclear confrontation) and announced a meeting with Putin in Budapest.
All remains volatile though.”
It’s a matter of timing
Many argue that timing is everything in diplomacy, and the Kremlin appears to have perfectly synchronized this extensive phone call with the White House — the eighth in eight months.
In fact, as CNN notes, it was an almost two-and-a-half hour intervention by President Putin — a last-ditch attempt to block the dangerous scenario of U.S. arms flowing into Ukraine, which could shift the war’s dynamics.
Can they strike Moscow, St. Petersburg?
Tomahawk missiles — capable of striking major Russian cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg — would not shift the battlefield’s dynamics, Putin reportedly told Trump.
They would only damage U.S.–Russia relations, which he knows Trump values deeply.
According to a Kremlin aide, Putin also praised Trump as a peacemaker in the Middle East and beyond.
Again, promises were made of economic cooperation and — critically — another summit in Budapest, where the war’s outcome might be discussed, if not decided.
Comparisons to Alaska
This will inevitably be compared to the failed Alaska summit earlier this year, when Trump greeted Putin with a red carpet but failed to achieve any concrete outcome.
Now, armed with his Gaza ceasefire success and hostage releases, Trump claims his Middle East achievements will help end the war between Russia and Ukraine.
No compromises
How exactly this will play out remains unclear.
The Kremlin has shown no willingness to compromise.
Despite battlefield losses and escalating Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, Russia continually rejects ending the war until it achieves maximum goals: capturing more territory, and imposing severe political and military constraints on a future Ukraine that will effectively be under Moscow’s will.
Nothing in the new Trump–Putin call suggests any change in this stance.
The bait
Yet over the past nine months of Trump’s second presidency, the Kremlin has learned that personal involvement and offering a chance at short-term victory can be as effective as any painful compromise.
Ukrainian officials in Washington say the Tomahawk discussion forced Putin back to the negotiating table.
That may be true.
But Moscow’s calculations suggest that mere prospect of progress is enough to coax Trump — who craves a grand agreement — to steer away from military threats.
Russian analysis
“Honestly, I didn’t expect much discussion of Tomahawks, because Putin’s style is well-known.
He never shows readiness to bend under pressure, and Trump’s Tomahawks were clearly chosen as leverage.
What Putin likely told Trump was: Sure, you deliver them — but that leads to escalation, intensifies our strikes, and moves peace further away.
Nothing else about this topic could have been said.
So it was naïve to assume the central focus of the call would be Tomahawks,” opines Russian political scientist Andrey Pinchuk.
Putin imposes his terms
“We see that the Putin–Trump meeting will follow the model Russia proposes for negotiations with Zelensky.
First, high-level technical advisors meet to work out the agenda and issues, and then the leaders sign the final agreements.
Not the reverse, as Europeans and Zelensky demand: ‘Let’s meet first, talk, and unlikely reach a deal, but at least make a show.’
Putin has shown that model is unacceptable.
If unacceptable with Trump, it’s certainly unacceptable with Zelensky.
This is how negotiations with Zelensky must be handled,” says a Russian analyst.
The symbolism of Budapest
He also emphasizes that choosing Budapest is symbolic.
“Hungary is constantly under pressure from the European bureaucracy on sanctions and energy policy.
So a meeting there — especially before potential elections — bolsters Orban, both from Putin and Trump.
At least on backing Orban, the sides found common ground.
Thus, the Putin–Trump call was full of implications and hidden messages.
We’ll see how the Trump–Zelensky meeting today plays out,” the analyst concludes.
www.bankingnews.gr
With a strategic move, Putin contacted U.S. President Donald Trump on the afternoon of October 16, effectively canceling the highly anticipated meeting scheduled for October 17 (20:00 Greece time) between Trump and Zelensky in the White House.
In doing so, as many Western media report, Putin managed at the last minute to shatter Ukrainian hopes for U.S. Tomahawk missiles, reassert his dominance in the Ukrainian issue, and secured agreement for another summit with Trump — in Hungary, an EU country that opposes Europe’s dominant policy toward Russia.
This is yet another “victory move” by the Russian president, who forces European actors to figure out how he’ll reach Budapest; especially given that many European countries could close their airspace to his presidential plane due to the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes.
Nonetheless, Hungary assures it will secure Putin’s entry into the country.
The stage is set, and the players are repositioning themselves again.
Diplomatic blow from the Kremlin: Putin makes an unexpected move
The Putin–Trump phone call struck at the heart of European and Ukrainian plans: the promised Tomahawk deliveries for Kyiv have been placed in limbo.
In the Kremlin, they understand clearly that each week without U.S.-supplied weapons means rising Ukrainian losses and fewer Russian casualties.
Time is working for Moscow again.
The timing of the phone call was impeccable — just as the U.S. decided to escalate, threatening Russia with Tomahawks in Ukraine.
Without question, the Tomahawks will not shift the battlefield’s balance.
Russian air defense will treat them as it has the Scalp and Storm Shadow missiles before.
Maestro
Putin has handled this game deftly since restoring contact with Donald Trump after his presidency began.
The core message remains consistent: Russia is ready for peace, but only on its terms.
The more Ukraine resists, the more territory and population it will lose.
The Russians recognize that a rigid stand from Kyiv plays into their hands.
Even if Ukraine theoretically agreed to recognize five territories as Russian, the state of Ukraine would remain.
Over ten, fifteen, or twenty years, a more capable army would be built, with modern weapons and technologies.
Zelensky’s agreements would be retroactively deemed illega, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces would move into Donbass and Novorossiya.
Let’s finish it now
That’s why many Russian experts argue that Ukraine must be settled now, not postponed for future generations.
In this framing, the Special Military Operation (SVO) must go to its conclusion.
They claim everyone, including at the highest levels, knows the unofficial objective of the SVO: the total elimination of Ukrainian statehood.
No other compromise is possible.
Survival game until victory
In Western circles, there is the narrative that Russia will lose economically, that once its economy collapses, resources will vanish, and Russia’s military capacity will falter.
But economic collapse in Russia is deemed impossible; stagnation or recession maybe, but not collapse.
Another narrative says Russia will be defeated when Ukraine exhausts its human resources, a grim “until the last Ukrainian stands” logic.
From a military perspective, it’s true: resistance ends when no one remains to hold weapons.
All necessary support to keep hostilities going will be provided to Kyiv: defense products, economic aid, political backing.
Even if the U.S. stops, the European Union will continue to pump in resources — inadequate, but enough to sustain the Ukrainian army.
The question reduces to volume.
Putin’s diplomatic objective
Hence Putin’s main goal is to reduce — ideally eliminate — American support.
And it seems to be working.
The Russian president has already bought at least 10 months.
Trump fully halted Ukraine’s funding, and weapon deliveries have dropped sharply.
That means more losses for Ukraine and fewer casualties for Russia.
Now we see a new phase unfolding.
Trump was preparing to hand over Tomahawks and reveal a full military aid package to Kyiv.
Yet the phone call and agreement to meet again gave Russian troops breathing room at the front.
Whether for weeks or months is yet to be seen — but each day without U.S. arms means more Ukrainian losses and fewer Russian ones.
Timing is everything
As always with Putin, timing is key.
The initiative to phone Trump on the eve of Zelensky’s White House visit was no accident.
The Kremlin knows well that Trump’s shift toward Ukraine could allow Tomahawk use in Kyiv — a red line in Moscow’s eyes.
This was a direct attempt to halt the weapon supply, the escalation Russia sees as dangerous, and reorient Trump to Russia’s narrative.
Judging by the White House statement after the call, Putin succeeded to some degree.
"Productive" meeting
Instead of threats and condemnations, Trump’s tone toward Russia turned warm and accommodating again.
He described the phone call as “very productive,” claimed “great progress,” and, most importantly, announced another in-person summit would follow.
But is this truly progress?
After no real outcome from the Alaska summit, Ukrainians and European allies will doubt whether Budapest will be any different.
What comes next?
There is a chance Trump might ultimately grant Zelensky his military wishes in their meeting, but that seems unlikely.
If he does, Putin will be forced to respond, and Budapest may collapse.
The phone call and its results follow a recurring pattern.
As long as Trump appears ready to support Ukraine in more than words, Putin maneuvers to win time, even with zero sign of compromise or genuine concession.
History repeats
In March, Trump threatened a 30-day ceasefire; Putin countered with a proposal to suspend attacks only on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
In May, Trump tried again — this time threatening to align with Europe for mass sanctions.
Putin’s response: direct talks with Ukraine.
Don’t forget Trump’s summer ultimata — 50 days, then 12 days to end the war or face economic backlash.
Those deadlines triggered the Alaska summit.
Now we see the pattern repeating.
Putin’s plan
How does he do it?
His tactic remains consistent — offer Trump something he can call “progress,” served with flattery.
This time, he congratulated Trump for his “great success” in the Gaza truce, thanked the First Lady for intervening in missing children in Ukraine, and agreed (or proposed) a summit in Budapest.
Smiling at the European Union
If the Budapest summit happens, Trump will get a televised moment to underscore his presidency’s peacemaking credentials.
But perhaps the greatest gain goes to Putin, who will re-enter European territory for the first time since the war began, in defiance of ongoing EU sanctions.
You can already see his grin.
Dugin’s intervention
Alexander Dugin, the Russian political philosopher and Kremlin influencer, also intervened.
“The Putin–Trump phone call seems to have helped deescalate things a bit.
Trump withdrew the plan to deliver Tomahawks to Kyiv (which could spark nuclear confrontation) and announced a meeting with Putin in Budapest.
All remains volatile though.”
It’s a matter of timing
Many argue that timing is everything in diplomacy, and the Kremlin appears to have perfectly synchronized this extensive phone call with the White House — the eighth in eight months.
In fact, as CNN notes, it was an almost two-and-a-half hour intervention by President Putin — a last-ditch attempt to block the dangerous scenario of U.S. arms flowing into Ukraine, which could shift the war’s dynamics.
Can they strike Moscow, St. Petersburg?
Tomahawk missiles — capable of striking major Russian cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg — would not shift the battlefield’s dynamics, Putin reportedly told Trump.
They would only damage U.S.–Russia relations, which he knows Trump values deeply.
According to a Kremlin aide, Putin also praised Trump as a peacemaker in the Middle East and beyond.
Again, promises were made of economic cooperation and — critically — another summit in Budapest, where the war’s outcome might be discussed, if not decided.
Comparisons to Alaska
This will inevitably be compared to the failed Alaska summit earlier this year, when Trump greeted Putin with a red carpet but failed to achieve any concrete outcome.
Now, armed with his Gaza ceasefire success and hostage releases, Trump claims his Middle East achievements will help end the war between Russia and Ukraine.
No compromises
How exactly this will play out remains unclear.
The Kremlin has shown no willingness to compromise.
Despite battlefield losses and escalating Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, Russia continually rejects ending the war until it achieves maximum goals: capturing more territory, and imposing severe political and military constraints on a future Ukraine that will effectively be under Moscow’s will.
Nothing in the new Trump–Putin call suggests any change in this stance.
The bait
Yet over the past nine months of Trump’s second presidency, the Kremlin has learned that personal involvement and offering a chance at short-term victory can be as effective as any painful compromise.
Ukrainian officials in Washington say the Tomahawk discussion forced Putin back to the negotiating table.
That may be true.
But Moscow’s calculations suggest that mere prospect of progress is enough to coax Trump — who craves a grand agreement — to steer away from military threats.
Russian analysis
“Honestly, I didn’t expect much discussion of Tomahawks, because Putin’s style is well-known.
He never shows readiness to bend under pressure, and Trump’s Tomahawks were clearly chosen as leverage.
What Putin likely told Trump was: Sure, you deliver them — but that leads to escalation, intensifies our strikes, and moves peace further away.
Nothing else about this topic could have been said.
So it was naïve to assume the central focus of the call would be Tomahawks,” opines Russian political scientist Andrey Pinchuk.
Putin imposes his terms
“We see that the Putin–Trump meeting will follow the model Russia proposes for negotiations with Zelensky.
First, high-level technical advisors meet to work out the agenda and issues, and then the leaders sign the final agreements.
Not the reverse, as Europeans and Zelensky demand: ‘Let’s meet first, talk, and unlikely reach a deal, but at least make a show.’
Putin has shown that model is unacceptable.
If unacceptable with Trump, it’s certainly unacceptable with Zelensky.
This is how negotiations with Zelensky must be handled,” says a Russian analyst.
The symbolism of Budapest
He also emphasizes that choosing Budapest is symbolic.
“Hungary is constantly under pressure from the European bureaucracy on sanctions and energy policy.
So a meeting there — especially before potential elections — bolsters Orban, both from Putin and Trump.
At least on backing Orban, the sides found common ground.
Thus, the Putin–Trump call was full of implications and hidden messages.
We’ll see how the Trump–Zelensky meeting today plays out,” the analyst concludes.
www.bankingnews.gr
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