What Will Trump's Game Plan Be In High-Stakes Call With Putin?

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

68% : Trump dispatched his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, to Moscow to meet with Putin last week in preparation for the March 18 call.
58% : Oil exports fuel Russia's economy and defense spending, accounting for about a third of federal budget revenues.
53% : But Trump could tap the $3.8 billion for military support to Ukraine remaining from the $61 billion aid package passed last April, Hardie said.
50% : And if the Russians don't, he needs to be ready to implement the promises he made to increase pressure on Moscow," John Hardie, the deputy director of the Russian Program at Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told RFE/RL. Ukraine on March 11 accepted Trump's proposal for a 30-day, unconditional cease-fire, putting the ball for halting the more than three-year full-scale war squarely in Putin's court.
49% : At the same time, Trump has also talked tough on Russia.
48% : Trump could lower the $60 price cap imposed by the US and EU in 2022 on Russian oil exports shipped using Western vessels or insurance.
45% : We're already talking about that, dividing up certain assets," Trump said.
45% : Chief among the tools in his box are oil sanctions, Hardie said.
44% : Now, as Trump prepares to speak with Putin in a high-stakes call on March 18 about ending the war in Ukraine, the world is waiting to see whether he will stand his ground and demand an unconditional temporary cease-fire or acquiesce to some Russian demands.
44% : Nonetheless, Trump has expressed optimism about the upcoming call, telling reporters late on March 16 that "a lot of work's been done over the weekend" to achieve a cease-fire.
43% : In a news conference in Moscow three days later, the Russian leader sought to politely punt the ball over to Trump, telling the world that while he agreed with the US president's proposal in principle, he wanted certain issues addressed before agreeing to any deal.
39% : It wasn't the first time that Trump uttered a Putin talking point following conversations with the Kremlin leader.
38% : He pointed out that Trump last week repeated Putin's exaggerated claim that Ukrainian forces in Kursk were surrounded by Russian forces.
36% : Trump said he would be discussing with Putin both "land" and "power plants," the latter a possible reference to Europe's largest nuclear power plant that Russia controls in Ukraine.
35% : The Russian leader believes he is winning the war and that time is on his side, so he will seek to drag out talks on a cease-fire rather than reject the proposal outright so as not to irritate Trump, experts have said.
30% : "It is important that President Trump stick to his guns and insist on a clean cease-fire.
26% : Prior to starting cease-fire talks, the US president said he objected to Ukraine's NATO membership and said Kyiv will have to forfeit land -- seemingly conceding to Putin on two key demands -- though Trump has not agreed to them as a precondition for the cease-fire deal.
24% : Trump has said he would impose sanctions and tariffs on Russia should the Kremlin not agree to a cease-fire.
19% : Trump heavily criticized US military aid to Ukraine on the campaign trail, potentially limiting his ability to use weapon deliveries as leverage should Russia refuse the cease-fire proposal.
15% : Trump has made ending the war as soon as possible a top priority for his administration and, with Moscow and Kyiv so far apart in their demands, some fear Trump could pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to make more compromises than Putin.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.