John Herbst, a former US ambassador to Ukraine, says the summation of Donald Trump’s phone call with Vladimir Putin is simple: “Trump blinked.”

A week-and-a-half ago, when Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky hosted major European leaders in Kyiv, and they agreed to hit Russia with substantial new sanctions if Moscow did not sign up to a 30-day ceasefire, Trump backed them in.

Trump and Putin spoke for some two hours on the phone.Credit: AP

It was a move in the direction Zelensky had been advocating for weeks: more pressure had to be put on Putin.

The Russian leader instead suggested direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul, which he then failed to attend. As Herbst says, Trump then “provided cover” for Putin by saying publicly: “Why would he go if I’m not going?”

A week later, and having spoken for two hours on the phone, Trump is now championing Putin’s pitch for direct talks between Russia and Ukraine as some kind of breakthrough.

This is not my war. I’m just here to try and help … I think something’s gonna happen. And if it doesn’t, I just back away, and they’re going to have to keep going.”

In a later call with Zelensky and other European leaders, Zelensky had to remind Trump that negotiations had already started – supposedly – in Istanbul last week,

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