VLADIMIR PUTIN is enjoying increasing influence in Eastern Europe after US President Donald Trump's Ukraine scandal has seen Kiev make concessions to Russia after US aid was cut – strengthening the Kremlin's grip on the former Soviet state. Ukraine leader Volodomyr Zelensky has agreed a deal with Putin that could see elections in two regions controlled by Russian-backed separatists, paving the way for the first direct talks. This has provoked many in Ukraine to protest Zelensky's decision, made just days after Trump withdrew aid that played a huge part in Ukraine's efforts to fight off Russian troops in disputed Crimea. As part of the agreement reached in the Belarusian capital Minsk on Tuesday, Ukrainian negotiators agreed to a mechanism for elections in Donetsk and Lugansk and to confer autonomy on these areas once the polls are certified as free and fair. The idea of fast-forwarding elections is to break the deadlock between Moscow and Kiev and open the way to full peace talks.
Does Donald Trump's Ukraine scandal expose Vladimir Putin's plot to revive Soviet legacy?
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