Vladimir Putin’s Russia is “capitalising” on actions and comments from Donald Trump and his team to seek to drive a rift between the US and Europe, say military experts.
The Institute for the Study of War also raised doubts over whether the Russian president really wants an end to his three-year war in Ukraine.
“Russia continues to publicly claim that it wants peace while offering no concessions of its own, in sharp contrast with the concessions Ukraine has already offered,” said the Washington-based think tank.
“Russian officials continue to capitalise on the Trump administration’s statements and actions in an attempt to divide the United States and Europe,” it added.
Trump has accused Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky of being a “dictator” as he has sought to build US-Russia ties.
The two also clashed in an extraordinary bust-up in the White House’s Oval Office, with growing claims that Trump is acting as “Putin’s fool”.
Trump has also sparked warnings that America can no longer be relied upon to support Nato’s Article V mutual defence agreement.
On Tuesday, US-Ukraine talks on a possible peace for Ukraine will begin as defence chiefs gather in France to draw up plans for a “Coalition of the Willing” to safeguard the country’s security if the war ends.
All eyes will be on Saudi Arabia this week as discussions kick off between White House and Ukrainian delegations in the country as part of an intensive week of diplomacy to find a deal to end the war.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told US Donald Trump he wanted the talks to have a “positive outcome” that would see military aid and intelligence-sharing resume when the pair spoke on Monday.
The US leader paused the supply of weapons and crucial information for Kyiv’s war effort following his public spat with Mr Zelensky.
Meanwhile, military chiefs from potential members of the so-called “Coalition of the Willing” will meet in Paris, with French officials indicating around 30 countries could take part.
Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin will attend for the UK before Defence Secretary John Healey meets opposite numbers from France, Germany, Italy and Poland in the French capital on Wednesday.
Sir Keir will lead a call with like-minded allies from the “Coalition of the Willing” on Saturday.
The call will involve leaders who have expressed an interest in contributing to or supporting a peacekeeping mission to deter Putin from launching a future attempt to conquer Ukraine if a deal to end the conflict is reached.
Foreign ministers from the G7, including David Lammy and US counterpart Marco Rubio, will meet in Canada from Wednesday to Friday.
Sir Keir has stressed the need for the US to provide a “backstop” security guarantee, a commitment to intervene if a European-led peacekeeping mission, involving British and French troops, comes under threat.
Hours before the talks in Saudi Arabia were due to begin, Russia’s defence ministry said it had shot down 337 drones that had targeted more than 10 regions, including Moscow in what appears to be the largest Ukrainian drone attack of the war.
