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00:00And just released in the last few minutes from Moscow, the Kremlin is saying that in regards to that strike on Sumi, that Russia strikes only military targets or military related targets.
00:12Now, joining me is Peter Zalmayev, the director of the Eurasia Democracy Initiative.
00:17Peter, thank you so much for your time.
00:19Firstly, why do you think Sumi was targeted?
00:24I think Sumi was targeted, first of all, because it was an opportunity crime.
00:27Obviously, these frontline towns that lay just across the border from Russia, it takes very, very little time for these ballistic missiles to reach them.
00:37And so chances are that no Ukrainian air defenses would react in time to stop them.
00:46Vladimir Putin has shown time and again his willingness to use these highly symbolic dates, such as the Palm Sunday, which is supposed to unite folks from around the Christian world.
00:57He's also sending a signal to Donald Trump that he probably has to make way many more concessions to the Russian side in hopes of bringing this to a swift resolution.
01:22Also, this is a way to show for Vladimir Putin that he feels he's confident there's still more Ukrainian territory to be grabbed and more lives to be taken before he's willing to sit down at a negotiating table.
01:35I'll just, having said that, I'll say that this is a very tricky and risky strategy for Vladimir Putin.
01:41He's playing with fire.
01:42You know, he knows that Donald Trump is unpredictable.
01:46And coming out of this whole tariff saga, quite weakened, I think, reputationally, Donald Trump does not, cannot afford to lose his face in these negotiations.
01:58And he's already been sending signals that he, his patience is running thin with his Russian counterpart.
02:05And I want to take you up on that point, because as we've seen in the last 24 hours, there's even been condemnation from within the Trump administration and Trump himself.
02:15So what impact do you think is going to, is it going to have on the situation in the hours or days to come?
02:21Well, I hope that it will have a stronger effect than just a continuation of sanctions or an imposition of new sanctions.
02:28That's what Donald Trump has hinted at.
02:30He's actually continued Biden's policy of sanctions against Russia.
02:35He hasn't lifted any so far.
02:38He is thinking about introducing more sanctions.
02:41I believe that more sanctions in Russia are kind of a fool's errand.
02:45Putin has, and his economy have shown resilience to these.
02:48He's got the backing of China, and he feels secure that he can weather any other sanctions.
02:54So I hope that Donald Trump actually will put his money where his mouth was during the election campaign, where you remember he said that if Russia doesn't play ball, he'll give Ukraine more weapons than Biden ever did.
03:08Well, let's see if he follows up on that.
03:11And President Zelensky has invited Donald Trump to Ukraine to see the damage for himself.
03:16Do you think Trump will take up the invitation?
03:20I don't believe that he'll take up the invitation just yet.
03:23You know, he doesn't have much really to show for his negotiating, for his peace efforts.
03:30I would certainly hope that Donald Trump does not visit Russia before he visits Ukraine.
03:35And not for lack of trying, Moscow has been trying to get him to commit to coming to the victory parade, the traditional victory parade on the Red Square in Moscow on the 9th of May.
03:46Well, I certainly hope he doesn't do that before he visits Kiev.
03:49But you cannot preclude anything.
03:51Donald Trump, you know, has met, as you know, with the North Korean leader.
03:54We cannot exclude the possibility of him coming.
03:58But I suspect that unless there's some concrete, you know, agreement between the two warring sides, Donald Trump is not yet ready to visit Kiev.
04:07Peter Zalmayev, we're going to have to leave it there.
04:09Thank you so much.