Envoys of President Donald Trump indicated on Friday to Ukrainian officials that a deal permitting Russian diesel exports was part of an attempt to bring Russia back to negotiations, according to three people close to the meeting reported by Reuters.
This move comes after previous efforts to launch sustained talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine failed.
Grégoire Roos, director of Europe, Russia, and Eurasia programs at Chatham House, told France 24 that “it is clear that Moscow is simply playing with Washington because Vladimir Putin knows that Donald Trump is on borrowed time.”