A high-stakes diplomatic exchange unfolded on Monday, March 10, when President Donald Trump initiated a direct phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin — a conversation that stretched across roughly an hour and traversed two of the world's most volatile geopolitical flashpoints: the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and escalating tensions surrounding Iran. Central to the dialogue was Trump's unambiguous signal that meaningful advancement toward a Ukrainian peace settlement is not merely preferred but expected. With the White House projecting considerable geopolitical leverage off the back of recent strategic gains, analysts suggest Putin would have been acutely aware that Washington was negotiating from a position of notable strength rather than diplomatic desperation. The question now reverberating through foreign policy circles is whether Moscow possesses either the political will or the strategic incentive to walk back its maximalist territorial and security demands — or whether the Kremlin intends to extract every possible concession before any framework for resolution takes shape. […]
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