By Katherine Tinsley
3:14am PDT, May 23, 2025
_
Donald Trump is continuing to push for Russia and Ukraine to come to a ceasefire agreement, but the president has been accused of showing favoritism to
Vladimir Putin.
Keep reading for the details…
MORE:
Follow Wonderwall on MSN for more top news
_
Rebeccah Heinrichs discussed Donald Trump's approach to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on Fox News on May 19.
Fox News host Trace Gallagher asked Heinrichs if she was "optimistic" that the president had a "good talk" with Vladimir Putin.
"No, Trace. Actually, I was pretty deflated after I heard the president's remarks because I was really hopeful that President Trump would impose costs on Putin in order to compel him to finally agree to an unconditional ceasefire, which Ukraine has agreed to — agreed to weeks ago," Heinrichs replied.
_
Rebeccah Heinrichs, who is a policy expert, shut down Donald Trump's hopes of Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky coming to an agreement.
"So, Russia continues to stall. And despite President Trump's optimism, Russia is the one that continues to act aggressively against Ukraine," she said.
"President Trump thankfully has still said there's other things that he's left on table: imposing biting sanctions against energy and banking," Heinrichs continued.
"But until President Trump really decides to get tough on Putin, I don't see Putin deciding that he's going to end this conflict, which he started," she added.
_
On Monday, May 19, Donald Trump gushed about his chat with Vladimir Putin on Truth Social: "Just completed my two-hour call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. I believe it went very well," he wrote.
"Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War," he continued. "The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of."
_
Donald Trump's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, later clarified previous comments her boss made about the war and Vladimir Putin.
"The president did say he believes Putin is winning the war, but he NEVER said 'Putin isn't ready to end war.' In fact, he said several times throughout the call that he believes Putin wants peace and wants the war to be over," Leavitt said, according to
The Daily Beast.
