Journalist Vitaly Portnikov said this on Espreso TV.“From the perspective of consequences, Russia’s recent attacks differ from previous ones in only one way – Donald Trump’s lack of reaction. Everyone expected him to respond, saying he always cared and spoke out against killing people. But nothing happened. Trump remains silent on Russia’s latest strikes on Ukraine because acknowledging them would mean admitting that the Alaska meeting ended in failure for him – a fiasco. He simply cannot do that. Then Trump would have to say: ‘I invited Putin to a personal meeting, put an end to his diplomatic isolation. He rebuffed me in Alaska and continued striking Ukraine. Putin doesn’t even consider me.’ But Trump cannot say that. That’s why his behavior evolves; he constantly pretends that everything is happening according to his own will,” commented Vitaliy Portnikov.According to him, Trump initially abandoned the idea of an unconditional ceasefire, then a conditional ceasefire, and later a trilateral summit in favor of a bilateral one. He explained his “tough” stance toward Putin after the sixth phone call by saying that Russia had struck Kyiv, something even Melania told him. Now, Melania hasn’t said anything to him.“I have said from the very beginning that Melania never told him anything. He made it up. Melania simply doesn’t exist in this context because they don’t live together. When Trump needed her, he invented Melania; when he didn’t need her, he didn’t mention her. Now he is forced to abandon this idea. Essentially, they are trying to justify Putin, since Trump’s press secretary said it was a response to strikes on Russian oil refineries. That implies Russia has a legitimate right to respond to attacks on its refineries with strikes on the residential areas of Ukrainian cities. But what happens if Ukraine stops hitting Russian refineries while Russia continues killing Ukrainian civilians? We know what they will say – that negotiations are needed. So this is the only real consequence. I was simply curious at what point Putin would decide to resume all of this,” the journalist said.In his view, Putin saw that Trump failed to pressure Zelenskyy into any capitulatory decisions. Putin needs a decision from Zelenskyy, made under Trump’s pressure, to destabilize Ukraine, break apart its army, and create conflict between Ukrainian society and its government. From Putin’s perspective, this would make it easier to occupy five to six regions of Ukraine.“It is known that over the past 2.5 years, Putin has occupied only 1% of Ukrainian territory. Since 2022, the Russians have not captured anything else and have only been losing ground. There are absolutely clear facts – Putin cannot occupy more; he had hoped Trump could pressure Zelenskyy and the Europeans. Trump failed, and Putin continued his tactics. He is doing this ahead of his trip to China, where he needs to appear as a strong leader, not as a loser who is not allowed to continue the war. He wants to appear as the man who met the U.S. president in Alaska, rebuffed this American leader, and advises the same to Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi,” Portnikov concluded.