Journalist Vitaly Portnikov shared his opinions on Espreso TV.“I believe an escalation of the situation is inevitable. Trump may think that by pressuring Putin, he can force him to the negotiating table. Putin, however, believes he must respond to pressure with even greater pressure. In Putin’s political career, and in his domestic and foreign policy actions, there has never been a situation where he showed a willingness to yield to pressure from another party. Even when it came to the resignation of his closest associates, it was obvious they needed to step down, but he kept them in their positions for several more years just to show that he makes independent decisions. Even now, if he leans toward a ceasefire, he will continue fighting for 2–3 years to demonstrate that the decision is his own,” Portnikov explained.The journalist is convinced that the Russian-Ukrainian war will intensify, and conflict escalation is inevitable.“Or he will agree to such a proposal from the next U.S. president to show that this president prompted him to act. This means that escalation on the Russian-Ukrainian fronts will only increase. Russian strikes on civilian facilities and Ukrainian strikes on defense industry and refineries will intensify. The war will escalate. There has been and is no way to break this trend,” he concluded.On October 21, Reuters reported that a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin is not planned “in the immediate future.” Preparations for the previously announced Budapest summit have been halted.On October 22, the U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, due to Moscow’s lack of readiness to end the war in Ukraine.On October 23, the European Union formally approved the 19th package of economic and individual sanctions against Russia through a written procedure.