The Russian leader is convinced that Moscow’s battlefield superiority is growing, and that Ukraine’s defenses may collapse in the coming months, according to people close to the Kremlin.

Trump’s decision to help Ukraine fight an onslaught of Russian attacks reverses a Pentagon decision to withhold defensive weapons.

In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "We are quite calm about this." "We expect to continue our dialogue with Washington and our line on repairing the rather broken bilateral relations,