The United States is drawing up a plan to potentially give Russia sanctions relief as President Donald Trump seeks to restore ties with Moscow and stop the war in Ukraine, a U.S. official and another person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The United States is drawing up a plan to potentially give Russia sanctions relief as President Donald Trump seeks to restore ties with Moscow and stop the war in Ukraine, a US official and another person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

To seasoned diplomatic observers, US President Donald Trump’s furious dressing down of Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office was a planned political mugging, a trap set by the Trump administration to discredit the Ukrainian leader and remove him as an obstacle to whatever comes next.

Germany's likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday he thought US President Donald Trump had deliberately escalated last week's angry clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky which shocked Kyiv'

Russia reacted with glee on Friday to the bitter clash between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the White House, saying the Ukrainian leader got what he deserved. The acrimonious shouting match was a gift to Moscow,

His ratings especially took a hit with Ukraine's failed counteroffensive of 2023, and his sacking a year later of the popular commander in chief of his armed forces, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi. But Donald Trump's new, transactional, often-hostile approach to Ukraine has forced the country to unite and brace for further uncertainty.

A majority of Russians are in favor of peace talks, but a very vocal minority eye US overtures with suspicion and contempt.

Peter Baker, a veteran journalist and former Moscow correspondent for the New York Times, compared the White House’s decision to Kremlin tactics.