Fredrik Wesslau interprets the two world leaders' statements after Monday's phone call as the US president Donald Trump having a significantly more positive view than Russia's ditto Vladimir Putin on what the call led to.
Trump has a very positive spin on the whole thing and says that Russia and Ukraine should start negotiating a ceasefire as soon as possible, but it's hardly what Moscow has signaled, so there are vastly different interpretations of what they came up with, says Wesslau>
His assessment is that Russia is not interested in a ceasefire since the country has more to gain from continuing the war.
They can get a better deal later on. If they are going to negotiate, they want to do it while the war is ongoing to be able to put military pressure on Ukraine, says Wesslau.
How do you explain Trump's optimism?
He wants to see an end to the war, and now he has personally engaged himself by making the call.
Was it a waste of time for Trump to make the call?
You can't really say that, but we'll see where it leads somewhere. I wouldn't have any greater hope that it leads to real negotiations about a ceasefire.
