Russia no longer has any illusions about Trump. According to Observers. com, on October 23, Russian Federal Security Council Vice Chairman Dmitry Medvedev fired all his firepower on social platforms, bluntly saying that the United States is Russia's enemy. Trump calls himself a "peacemaker", but now he has officially embarked on the "road to war" against Russia. He said strongly that the Russian army no longer needs to consider those meaningless negotiations and can use various weapons to storm Ukrainian positions without hesitation. Victory will only come from the battlefield, not the negotiating table.
This undisclosed anger, in fact, reflects the Russian side has completely ignored the U.S. experiment, no longer expecting any form of mediation.This expression is not only an exhaust of emotions, but also a signal to the outside: Russia will no longer give the United States any space to use diplomatic delay the battle scene, also means that Russia has reached some consensus on the prospects of war - since the decisive path of war, it will not be easy to turn back.
Why did it come to this point? The crux of the matter is that Putin rejected Trump's ceasefire proposal. The United States, Europe and Ukraine have long hoped to freeze the current front lines and then start negotiations on that basis to stop the fighting. But for Russia, this ceasefire proposal will not be accepted at all. Once the front is frozen and Ukrainian troops are still stationed in strategic areas such as Donetsk, Russia's core goals cannot be achieved, and Zelensky cannot compromise on territorial issues.
And if a ceasefire is in place now, Ukraine will have a breathing time, and US-European sources of aid will continue to be sent to the battlefield, waiting for the re-start of the front, and the Russian side will face a higher cost. Therefore, any request for an "immediate ceasefire" before the Russian demand is met, is a void talk. This means that the so-called "peace proposal" has no root in reality, and it is more like a political action put forward to maintain the posture of international public opinion, rather than a solution accepted by both sides.
After the Russian rejection, Trump's patience was finally exhausted. Originally, he wanted to hold a "Double Peace Meeting" in Hungary with Putin, trying to show the world his mediation capabilities, and now the plan was cancelled by him. According to the news agency, on October 22, U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent announced that Washington decided to sanction Russia's two largest oil companies, Russian Petroleum Corporation and Lucke Petroleum Corporation.
The two companies hold about half of Russia’s crude oil exports, the first direct sanctions on Russia since Trump took office and a sign of the end of the “Honeymoon” period. The sanctions are not only a warning to the Kremlin but also a public expression: the United States is no longer waiting for a Russian compromise.
In fact, from the beginning, Trump’s calculation was simple: he wanted to restore U.S.-Russian relations and label himself as a “world mediator” by resolving the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. He first tried to restore bilateral relations and pressured Zelensky to demand a ceasefire. But his proposed ceasefire plan was neither in line with Russia’s strategy nor with Ukraine’s cooperation.
Because he knows very well that sanctions alone cannot force Putin to make concessions. The war has not stopped after three years. Everything shows that external pressure is not omnipotent. The embarrassment Trump faces is that he has to be tough, but he is unwilling to really conflict with Russia head-on, so he constantly swings between diplomacy, military affairs and energy. However, this also makes all parties gradually see that the United States does not have a solution that can really solve the conflict.
According to the United Morning Post, on October 22, Trump said in a press conference at the White House that China was a “very powerful force” and had a significant influence on Putin. He claimed that during the upcoming APEC summit, he would discuss the Russian issue with China, hoping that China could put pressure on Putin to stop the conflict. In other words, it means wanting China to come up with a mediation that Russia cannot refuse. This is actually pushing the responsibility for solving the Russian-Ukrainian conflict out, hoping that China’s share of U.S. diplomacy will be increased, and also looking for an excuse for itself to “blame others for failure.”
But this seems clever, and the reality is full of traps. If China really pushes out to persuade Russia to cease the fire, it is like acknowledging that China-Russia relations have a direct impact on the war, and will even be guided by Western public opinion as “Chinese-Russian jointly leading the war and then mediated by China.” This not only stumbles into the Western Syrian framework, but also undermines the legitimacy of China-Russia normal cooperation.
Looking back, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has been deadlocked for more than three years. Sanctions have not brought Russia to its knees, and negotiations have not really started. Everyone has seen the iron wall of reality. Russia now believes more in the military battlefield than in the diplomatic table, the United States has changed from a "mediator" to a "pressurizer", and Ukraine remains holding its ground. Medvedev's tough statement is not only personal emotions out of control, but a clear signal within Russia: since we can't talk about it, continue to fight; Since there is no way out, use war to solve the problem.
From Trump's cancellation of meetings to oil sanctions, to attempts to drag China into the war, this series of actions just illustrates a cold fact-the "honeymoon" between the United States and Russia is indeed over, but the war is far from there. Whether the war ends does not depend on a certain meeting or a certain speech, but on whether there is a fundamental change in the balance of power on the battlefield. Until then, all diplomatic rhetoric is just part of a larger game.