“The Kremlin’s strategic wager was clear: that an incoming Trump administration would force a peace deal on Kyiv and Europe’s capitals, locking in Russia’s territorial gains and fracturing Western unity before Moscow’s own clock ran out. And if it didn’t, the US would withdraw support,” RUSI analysts Dixon and Beznosiuk argue.

Unless Donald Trump, the US president was willing to impose meaningful pressure on Putin, Russia’s ambitions to subjugate Ukraine and dominate Europe would only be emboldened, it's been warned

French President Emmanuel Macron said Europe will have to find the way to directly engage with the Russian leader as the US pushes ahead with peace talks.

Vladimir Putin is not interested in peace with Ukraine and is preparing to subvert European democratic elections, the country's leader has warned.

His speech came as Russia released video of what it said was a downed drone after it claimed Ukraine tried to attack a presidential residence

Russia's Vladimir Solovyov added to fears that a larger war will break out in Europe when he listed multiple countries Russia should "destroy."

Liberal democracies view Putin’s Russia as a bully – and Trump’s US as an angry drunk with a bazooka. The response is pure venom, say Henry Farrell and Sergey Radchenko of Johns Hopkins

Europe will have to re-engage in direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin if the latest U.S.-led efforts to broker a Ukraine peace deal founder, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday.

As 2026 opens, Vladimir Putin projects the image of a calm, confident leader. Although political maskirovka comes naturally from his KGB background, Putin very likely believes he is in a position of strength.

Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has spoken of the threat of a "large-scale armed conflict" if Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast is blockaded.