Putin has seriously misjudged Trump

Vladimir Putin thought he could play Trump along and get the US president to force Ukraine to give him everything he wanted. He thought Trump was his friend, that he would understand why he wanted to destroy Ukraine. He gambled that Trump represented his best chance of defeating Ukraine. But he got that wrong. He miscalculated. He went too far. Worst of all (for him) he has thoroughly annoyed Trump and made him look weak. Now that gamble, has failed. Trump, persuaded by a number of people, especially Mark Rutte, the secretary-general of Nato, has realised that being tough with Putin is the only way forward. He had been reluctant to use the oil sanctions stick although it has been on the table for months. But that phone call between Rubio and Lavrov was the final straw. He knew from that moment that Putin wasn't interested in peace and was just playing him along. Trump must have been very angry. So much for the special relationship he was supposed to have with Vladimir, as he likes to call him. Now the two are at loggerheads and that's bad news for Putin but it's also of course bad bews for Zelensky who will have to prepare his country and his people for another winter of bombings, death and destruction.