Two possible scenarios of agreements between Trump and Putin, expert says

He shared his opinions with Espreso TV.  

"I currently have two versions of what might happen today. The first version is the legitimization of previous agreements. Steve Witkoff recently visited Moscow, where he waited for Putin for several hours before engaging in a long discussion. After returning, nothing specific about his visit was disclosed. This means either they failed to reach any agreement, or they did agree on something, but to avoid drawing attention to himself, Witkoff decided to let Trump take the credit, or Trump chose to claim the achievement for himself. Today, he plans to talk to Putin and announce certain agreements.  

The second option is that Putin and Witkoff did not reach any agreements, and today Trump will attempt to negotiate directly with Putin, possibly even pressuring him," Nesvytailov suggested.  

According to the international affairs expert, Putin will try to delay an agreement on a 30-day ceasefire.  

"Putin does not want this now, as the Kursk operation is still ongoing, and they still have some offensive potential. He will seek such an agreement only when it becomes clear that their offensive capability has been exhausted, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been pushed out of the Kursk region, and then he can announce a ceasefire. Thirty days would be enough to fortify positions and lay mines while simultaneously violating the ceasefire selectively. The question is whether Trump is willing to wait for weeks while Putin continues the offensive or if he will exert real pressure on Putin. So far, there has only been talk of pressure, but few concrete actions from Trump," Nesvytailov concluded.

• U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he plans to speak with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, March 18, to discuss efforts to end the war in Ukraine, the territories and power plants.