Only that excellent scholar of human psychology, Mr Charles Schultzcould accurately render the strange relationship between the president of the usa, Donald Trump and him Russian dictator, Vladimir Putin.

One of the most famous motifs of the famous comic “Peanuts” of Schulz was her story Lucy and the soccer ball. Every autumn, for decades, the Lucy encouraged him Charlie Brown to kick the ball and each time he pulled it at the last minute, sending him tumbling to the ground. THE Charlie Brown he protested, promised he wouldn’t step on her again, but in the end he always did.

If you haven’t already guessed, Putin is Lucy, Trump is Charlie Brownand the peace in Ukraine it is the soccer ball. Since the Trump returned to White House in January, he has repeatedly expressed his belief that President Putin wants to end the war. But his faith is sorely tested by Putin’s actions. If he really wants to stop the war, why is he continuing it?

At times, Trump shows a realization — Charlie Brown-esque — that he may be chasing a delusion. Last April, after yet another massive Russian drone and missile attack on Ukrainian cities, he admitted: “I’m starting to think maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just pulling me along».

He then threatened to impose sanctions on Russia if it did not accept a truce. But, to prevent this danger, Putin persuaded him to meet at Alaska in August. Suddenly, sanctions were off the table, leaving only some tariffs against India for buying Russian oil.

This month we see the same tired script again. Trump considered sending Tomahawk missiles in Ukraine so that it could strike targets inside Russia. Putin, in a state of panic, called him and convinced him to meet at Hungary. The Tomahawk sale was suspended indefinitely. According to them Financial TimesTrump reportedly verbally attacked Zelensky behind closed doors, telling him that his country “will be destroyed” if he does not accept Putin’s terms.

What reason is there to believe that the Budapest session will be more successful than the one in Alaska where, also according to them Financial Timeshad Putin irritated Trump with a lengthy history lecture about how Ukraine belongs to Russia? There is no indication that Putin intends to make any new concessions. In their phone conversation last week, he reiterated his demands that Kiev hand over territory that the Russian military it hasn’t even conquered. And yet, Trump just she can’t say no to him.

Trump’s endless credulity towards Putin makes it impossible for him to realize his dream of end the war in Ukraine and to win Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. His failure to put more pressure on Russia is all the more galling given that Ukraine itself is making progress.

OR Putin’s summer offensive failed without achieving any of its objectives. The Economist estimates that this year the Russian forces barely won 0.4% of land, with a price over 100,000 dead troops. Since the beginning of the war, Russia has lost over a million soldiers dead or wounded. Ukrainian losses, although heavy, are much smaller.

War brings about not only humanitarianbut also economic cost in Russia. According to the ReutersUkrainian drone strikes neutralized in August 21% of Russian refining capacity. This caused fuel prices to rise and shortages in the Russian market, reducing Kremlin revenues to one of the lowest levels since 2022.

To his credit, Trump allowed it exchange of information with Ukraine to facilitate these attacks, but that’s one of the few things he’s gotten right.

The good news is that while the US is pulling back, Europe is moving forward. This year, European military aid to Ukraine surpassed that of the United States for the first time. The few weapons systems the US is still sending are not donations, the Europeans buy.

Europe is also moving forward with a plan to dispose of over $200 billion from frozen Russian funds as interest free “loan” to Ukraine, which will not have to be repaid unless Russia pays war reparations, which is highly unlikely. This amount is as much as all cumulative aid that Ukraine has received from the West to date and would allow it to continue the struggle for years.

These movements increase the pressure to Russian dictator to stop his aggression. But Putin still believes he can win on the field. He is, however, clearly concerned about the possibility of the US imposing sanctions or to send Tomahawk in Ukraine. If only Trump would stop wasting time on social media and start seriously pushingmaybe Putin would understand how he no longer has a path to victory and would be forced to negotiate honestly.

But every time he seems to get it, Trump does drifts away again from the memoirs of the former KGB agent in the Kremlin. He himself seems to know, deep down, that Putin is working for him and yet, falls into the trap every time.

Charlie Brown would understand him perfectly.