Putin is betting he can make Trump so mad he gives up on peace and Ukraine, expert says

It’s the Russian gambit.Russian President Vladimir Putin is hoping that his increased attacks on Ukraine and repeated dismissal of cease-fire deals will make President Trump so angry and frustrated with the peace process that America will give up on Ukraine altogether, one longtime Russia watcher says.Tensions have reached a boiling point between the world leaders after Trump slammed Putin as “crazy” and warned him that he was “playing with fire” after record drone and missile attacks on Ukraine this week, with the Kremlin mocking him as overly emotional.

The constant antagonization, however, is likely all part of Putin’s gamble to strip Ukraine of its biggest ally.And Trump’s frustration spilling over to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shows it could be working, George Barros, of the Institute for the Study of War think tank, told The Post. Barros, who leads the ISW’s Russia and geospatial intelligence teams, said Putin’s main goal is to destroy the coalition of international support for Ukraine, which has kept Kyiv in the fight with a constant flow of money and high-tech western weapons.

The Kremlin’s greatest prize is ending US support.“Putin is trying to shape Trump’s path forward… and what he wants is for Trump to get exasperated, for the president to say, ‘My time is too valuable to be wasted on this,'” Barros said.Putin got a taste of that over the weekend when, along with criticizing Russia, Trump slammed Ukraine and the Biden administration for failing to reach a cease-fire and suggesting the US may abandon its role in mediating a cease-fire.“This is Zelensky’s, Putin’s, and Biden’s War, not ‘Trump’s,’ I am only helping to put out the big and ugly fires, that have been started through Gross Incompetence and Hatred,” Trump blasted on Truth Social Sunday.

John Herbst, a former US ambassador to Ukraine and senior director of the Atlantic Council think tank’s Eurasia Center, said Trump’s recent commen...