President Trump shortened to this coming Friday the deadline of his ceasefire ultimatum given to Russia. A change in Trump's attitude is noticeable, something which Russia can no longer ignore, Saks said.

"Trump had earlier tried to put pressure on [Russian President Vladimir Putin] via very specific deadlines, but Russia has been ridiculing the setting of such concrete deadlines, as President Trump has not stuck to them in the past. [Trump's] rhetoric is [now] more serious, and the pressure is much stronger than before, while the U.S. president is no longer playing the role of a neutral mediator — the U.S. cannot be a neutral mediator in this conflict, as it has been supplying weapons to Ukraine in such large quantities that it does not align with that posture," Saks told "Ukraine stuudio."

While Russia had previously proven very skilled in its rhetoric in overriding deadlines, and the U.S. president had apparently bought into this, Saks said that this is part of a longer game in which Russia and its allies are trying to push the U.S. off the throne of being the largest arbiter on the world stage.

"The marginalization of the U.S. is a major goal in this game, and not only by Russia, but also by China and all the BRICS countries. The very forceful behavior of the U.S. president [with tariffs] also fits into this context. This can be seen as a kind of policy counter to what the BRICS countries have been trying to implement," Saks said.

Trump is sending his Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, to Moscow, not for the first time: Witkoff was dispatched there in February too. According to Saks, it is not currently known whether Putin will personally be meeting with Witkoff this time around.

"If Russia wants to utilize Witkoff to achieve something, then surely it will be done personally by the Russian president. Otherwise, this scheme would not work. Could they achieve something in Russia's direction, a concession? I think Russia will try to give the impression that some sort of concession has been made, but it will be highly symbolic, done in a way that the U.S. president is faced with a take-it-or-leave-it situation," Saks continued.

According to Saks, Trump has by now understood that one must be prepared for the pressure towards Russia to not have an effect.

"I think he said on Sunday that sanctions will come in his opinion one way or another – in other words, he wants to signal to Russia that he won't buy into a cosmetic, so-called beautification. We'll see. Russia has previously been very skillful at nullifying the US president's statements. It seems it's not as easy anymore as it used to be," said Saks.

According to Saks, an example of the change in the US attitude is also Trump's counteraction to the threats by Russia's former president and deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev.

"What was done is exactly what should be done in such a situation: You take advantage of an opponent's recklessness, turn it against them, and take the initiative. And even today Trump confirmed that: Yes, the [nuclear] submarines are there and ready to strike if necessary, we cannot be threatened. And that is the additional pressure placed on the Russian government, signaling that Russia simply cannot hold the initiative and pressure the U.S.," Saks concluded.

Witkoff is expected in Moscow just as the deadline, originally for 50 days when it was set last month, and now brought forward to expire Friday, with "severe tariffs" and military aid to Ukraine looming if progress towards a ceasefire in Ukraine is not made.

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