Putin expressed concern for the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine in his conversation with the U.S. president on Monday, according to a news release from the Kremlin. Part of the crisis involves loss of life among the Russians, yet Putin pushes on – and his insincere declarations after a phone call with his U.S counterpart aren’t about to change things.
That's according to John Bolton, a former national security advisor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, who discussed the phone call on Washington Watch Monday.
Trump and Putin talked for more than two hours, but the call ended without an agreement for an immediate ceasefire in the war which started with a build-up of Russian troops along the border then a full-scale invasion in February of 2022.
Trump claimed progress after the phone call, stating that Russia and Ukraine would “immediately” begin ceasefire negotiations though the Kremlin has offered no timeframe for such talks. Bolton questions Putin's honesty.
“He’s not being straightforward if he’s saying he’s eager to find a way to get a ceasefire,” Bolton told show host Tony Perkins.
That’s in spite of the fact that a ceasefire would be in Russia’s best interest due to the “enormous casualties” they’ve suffered since the start of the war, Bolton added. A conflict Putin thought wouldn’t last long has now claimed more than 107,000 Russian soldiers, more than 5,000 officers.
“I think Putin believes that momentum on the battlefield, slight though it is, is moving in Russia’s direction – and as long as that's the case, he's happy to continue the war notwithstanding the huge cost in life and resources to his government,” Bolton stated.
Putin wants to deal with Trump
The fact that the Russian and U.S. governments have conflicting views on ceasefire talks is not a big concern, Bolton said. The Russian leader likes dealing with Trump, according to the former ambassador, and believes he can get a better deal from Trump – including retention of land taken in the invasion.
Though Putin might be slow-walking the path to peace talks, Bolton predicts he will come around if it means he and Trump and the lead negotiators.
“He doesn’t want to deal with [Ukraine President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy or all the European leaders. The call [Monday] was something that Putin wanted. We may see in the near future an actual meeting between the two of them, which Putin would like to see because it would help bring him out of international isolation,” Bolton explained.
Various media reports say Trump has proposed a peace deal that would allow Russia to retain control of occupied Ukrainian territory. This would include freezing the frontline which would enable Russia to keep much of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions that have been partially occupied since the invasion.
Ukraine would get unhindered access to the mouth of the Dnieper River, and Russia would withdraw from a second area of Kherson.
Such a proposal would be a major hit for Zelesnkyy (left) who in March said his government would not recognize any occupied territories as Russian. But the land ship has sailed in the current negotiations.
“In comments by [Vice President] JD Vance and others in the administration, I think that’s already been given to Putin,” Bolton said. “Vance said as far back as the [2024 presidential] campaign that Ukraine was not going to be returned to its full sovereignty and territorial integrity, and that Ukraine would not join NATO.”
Strike two against Zelenskyy
If Vance is right, losing the NATO point is another significant hit for Zelenskyy, who knows that Ukraine and Russia have had peace deals before.
Membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), founded as a collective defense alliance against Soviet Union aggression during the Cold War, would guarantee a NATO fighting force in the face of another invasion.
“They had a ceasefire back in 2014 after the first Russian invasion, and it took the Kremlin eight years to invade again. It may take another long period before a third invasion takes place, but Zelenskyy wants to find a way to prevent the third invasion before it happens which is why he’s pressed so hard for security guarantees,” Bolton said.
According to the former national security advisor, that’s why Zelenskyy was so willing to bargain with rare minerals in Ukraine: to give the U.S. something to protect in his region. And while it was important to get the deal done, Bolton acknowledged there are difficulties in pulling it off.
“Digging mines is not a short-term operation, particularly since a lot of the materials we’re talking about are in areas near the current front line, some of them actually in Russian possession right now,” Bolton noted.
