No hint of a head-on collision. Far from it. At times it seemed as if Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump were in the same carriage, moving in the same direction. In February the United States sided with Russia at the United Nations, opposing a European-drafted resolution that had condemned Russia's "aggression" in Ukraine.

Finland's President Alexander Stubb said on Monday he held a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss Russia's war in Ukraine, expressing support for all efforts toward an immediate ceasefire.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is unlikely to bow to a sanctions ultimatum expiring this Friday from U.S. President Donald Trump, and retains the goal of capturing four regions of Ukraine in their entirety,