Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin during their phone call, March 18, 2025 (Drew Angerer/Gavriil Grigorov/Getty/AFP)

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EA on TVP World: Trump, Putin, and Ukraine’s Resistance

Monday’s Coverage: Russia’s Message — Largest Drone Attack of Its Invasion

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1507 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked the European Union for its latest sanctions on Russia.

It is important to impose tough restrictions on Russia’s tanker fleet, which serves to finance killings, as well as on all the schemes Russia uses to build up its military industry. The more pressure there is on Russia, the more incentives Moscow will have to move toward genuine peace.

UPDATE 1449 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky had to remind Donald Trump, during a conference call with European leaders, that negotiations with Russia are already underway.

“Sources present at the call” spoke of Trump’s conversation with Zelensky and the leaders of Germany, France, Italy, Finland, and the European Commission, following Trump’s call with Vladimir Putin.

Trump told the leaders that Putin had agreed to start direct negotiations on a ceasefire immediately, which led to a few seconds of “puzzled silence”.

Zelensky reminded Trump that Putin had previously agreed to this, and that the first round of direct talks took place last Thursday in Istanbul.

Trump did not directly respond.

Zelensky and other leaders also reminded Trump that it was his idea to start the “peace talks” with an immediate 30-day ceasefire. Putin rejected the ceasefire in his discussion with Trump, saying agreements had to be reached with Ukraine first.

Participants on the call were “surprised” or “shocked” that Trump was “relatively content” with what he heard from Putin and presenting this as a new development.

Asked about toughened sanctions against Russia, Trump said it was not a good idea as Putin wants a deal

Responding to Finnish President Alexander Stubb’s question on his next steps, Trump said that somebody “has to come out and say whether the negotiations are going well or badly”, and then the he will decide what to do.

UPDATE 1128 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has posted after a conversation with Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb:

It is obvious that Russia is trying to buy time in order to continue its war and occupation. We are working with our partners to ensure that pressure forces Russians to change their behavior. Sanctions matter, and I am grateful to everyone making them more biting for those responsible for this war….

If Russia continues to put forward unrealistic conditions and undermine progress, there must be tough consequences.

UPDATE 1058 GMT:

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has confirmed that the Kremlin has no intention of accepting a ceasefire, following Vladimir Putin’s call with Donald Trump.

“There is no time frame and can be none,” Peskov told journalists. “The devil is in the details. Drafts will be drawn up both by the Russian side and the Ukrainian side. They will exchange these draft documents, and then there will be difficult contacts to formulate a single text.”

Peskov repeated Putin’s language, “eliminating the root causes”, encompassing Russia’s ultimata over Ukraine.

“Vladimir Putin is obviously continuing to play for time,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Tuesday, with “no sign” of a ceasefire.

Pistorius said Kyiv’s European partners can keep delivering weapons or money “to the best of our ability”.

At the same time, of course, we can continue to participate in diplomatic efforts, but what I am convinced the European Union can and must do is tighten the sanctions screw so that it really becomes clear that we will not be prepared to continue tolerating Russia’s actions here without consequences.

UPDATE 1051 GMT:

The Trump Administration is planning to spend up to $250 million, earmarked for foreign assistance, to remove civilians who have come to the US from active combat zones.

They include around 200,000 Ukrainian and around 500,000 Haitian migrants and refugees, according to draft internal documents.

The proposal accompanies the Administration slashing of foreign aid, including the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development and termination of 80% of its programs.

UPDATE 1046 GMT:

The European Union’s foreign policy head Kaja Kallas confirms:

Kallas added, “America said that if Russia doesn’t agree on an unconditional ceasefire, then there are going to be consequences. So we want to see those consequences, also from the US side.”

The UK confirmed 100 new sanctions on Russian entities, including those in the military, energy and financial sectors and those conducting “Putin’s information war against Ukraine”.

The Government said it is “also working” with partners “to tighten the Oil Price Cap, further restricting critical oil revenues for Putin’s war machine”.

UPDATE 0954 GMT:

Several Russian State agencies are offline.

Among the sites affected is that of the Federal Tax Service. The EGAIS system, which is used for the sale of alcohol; the Unified Medical Information and Analytical System; and Moscow’s Electronic Medical Record service are also not working.

The Tax Service said the agency is recording high-level DDoS attacks from abroad.

UPDATE 0945 GMT:

At least one civilian was killed and 13 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day.

Russian forces launched 108 Iran-type attack drones and decoy UAVs overnight.

Air defenses downed 35 drones, and 58 were lost to electronic counter-measures.

The attacks damaged infrastructure in the Donetsk, Dnipro, Sumy, and Zhytomyr regions.

UPDATE 0840 GMT:

Ukraine’s Ground Forces Commander Mykhailo Drapatyi has ordered an inspection of the 155th “Anne of Kyiv” Brigade following misconduct allegations against the unit’s command.

Ukrainska Pravda published an investigation into the possible involvement of the brigade’s commander, Colonel Taras Maksimov, in handing out falsified bonus payments and demanding bribes. It noted more than 1,200 cases of personnel going absent without official leave since 2025 and the failure to supply the unit sufficiently.

Last year, another investigation uncovered widespread mismanagement and desertion among the personnel, leading to an inspection and a command change.

The brigade was intended as a flagship project for modernization of the Ukrainian military, was trained and equipped with assistance from France and other foreign partners.

But between March and November 2024, over 1,700 soldiers reportedly abandoned their posts, with an additional 50 deserting while training in France.

UPDATE 0831 GMT:

Amnesty International will pursue investigations concerning Russia despite Moscow’s Prosecutor General declaring the rights group an “undesirable organization”.

Amnesty said it will defy the effective ban on its operations and risk of prosecution of supporters. The organization will continue to document rights abuses, including war crimes by Russian forces in Ukraine.

Russia’s Prosecutor General declared that Amnesty’s London office was a “center for the preparation of global Russophobic projects”. The human rights group was “doing everything possible to intensify the military confrontation in the region”.

“This decision is part of the Russian Government’s broader effort to silence dissent and isolate civil society,” said Amnesty Secretary General Agnès Callamard.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: a 2 1/2-hour phone call with Donald Trump on Monday, Vladimir Putin effectively maintained his demand for Ukraine’s surrender to Russia’s 39-month full-scale invasion.

After the call, Putin declared his willingness to work with Trump on a memorandum for “peace”. However, he refused any ceasefire and used his standard phrase for Ukraine’s capitulation: “The main thing for us is to eliminate the root causes of this crisis.”

That wording by the Kremlin encompasses the demand that Ukraine give up all of four regions — Donetsk and Luhansk in the east and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south — plus Crimea, the peninsula occupied since 2014. It requires Kyiv’s demilitarization, “neutral” status, and foregoing any security ties with Western partners, including membership in NATO. It has included the insistence on the removal of the Zelensky Government.

Despite his refusal to attend direct talks with Ukraine last Thursday or to send a high-level representative such as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Putin said efforts to end the war in Ukraine were “on the right track”.

We have agreed with the president of the United States that Russia will propose and is ready to work with the Ukrainian side on a memorandum on a possible future peace accord, defining a number of positions, such as, for example, the principles of settlement, the timing of a possible peace agreement.

If those “appropriate” agreements are reached, then and only then could there be a ceasefire.

Trump Declares “Progrees” But Europe Prepares Tougher Sanctions on Russia

Trump posted on social media that the call “went very well” with an “excellent…tone and spirit”: “Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a ceasefire and, more importantly bring and end to the war.”

He said he spoken in a conference call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky; European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen; French President Emmanuel Macron; Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni; German Chancellor Friedrich Merz; and Finnish President Alexander Stubb.

Later, speaking in the White House Rose Garden, he said:

I think some progress has been made. It’s a terrible situation going on over there. Five thousand young people every single week are being killed so hopefully we did something.

We also spoke to the heads of most of the European nations and we’re trying to get that whole thing wrapped up. What a shame that it ever started in the first place.

European leaders had a far different view.

Von der Leyen was careful to flatter Trump, thanking him for his tireless efforts to bring a ceasefire to Ukraine, to emphasize, “It’s important that the US stays engaged.”

Germany’s Merz focused on pressure on the Kremlin:

Europe and America are very united on this point: We will closely support Ukraine on its path toward a ceasefire. Europe will increase pressure on Moscow through sanctions. We agreed on this with [Trump] after his conversation with Putin.

Merz said last week that the European Union could adopt the measures by Tuesday. Announced by Von der Leyen, the package includes sanctions on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines from Russia to Germany; additional listings of vessels from Russia’s shadow fleet, a lower price cap on Russia’s oil exports; and restrictions on the Russian financial sector.

Zelensky said in a lengthy post:

If Russia refuses to stop the killings, refuses to release prisoners of war and hostages, if Putin puts forward unrealistic demands, this will mean that Russia continues to drag out the war, and deserves that Europe, America, and the world act accordingly, including with further sanctions. Russia must end the war it started, and it can begin doing so any day. Ukraine has always been ready for peace.

The President assured, “The European package will be there, and it will be strong,” but noted: “As for the United States package, that is a different story. Here, we all need to work hard with the United States of America so that at some point, when they are able to, they will impose appropriate sanctions.”

He said Kyiv and its partners are considering a summit of the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, the US, European Union countries, and the UK to end Moscow’s invasion. The meeting, occurring as soon as possible, could be hosted by Turkey, the Vatican, or Switzerland.

And Zelensky emphasized, “It’s our land, we won’t withdraw our troops from our territory….It means that they don’t want peace…if they demand what they know we won’t agree to.”