This article (NYT gift link) about Trump's upcoming call with Putin takes a really creative spin. While the spokespeople for Trump and Putin have told the press that the agenda for the call is to discuss how to "divide up" Ukrainian resources, the authors of the piece assume that means the discussion will be about how to divide up stuff between Russia and Ukraine in a settlement of the war in Ukraine. But if you focus on the actual quotes from Trump or Putin people, it looks to me like the discussion will be about how to divide up Ukraine's resources between Russia and the United States.
Like with the "peace talk" in Saudi Arabia a few weeks ago, Ukraine is not invited to this discussion. And there is zero reason to believe that the Trump Administration has any interest at all in making sure that the Ukrainian government retains any assets. This call is just a modern day version of the 1884-85 Berlin Conference. Never mind that Trump can't actually deliver a ceasefire without something in the deal to convince Ukrainians to cease firing on their invaders.
