The United States is drawing up a plan to potentially give Russia sanctions relief as President Donald Trump seeks to restore ties with Moscow and stop the war in Ukraine, a U.S. official and another person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Russia's ruble, the Moscow stock market and Ukrainian government bonds all declined Monday after Friday's Oval Office dust-up between U.S. President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky kn

The fallout from the heated exchange sparked criticism from Ukraine-backing lawmakers as well as praise from Republican supporters of the U.S. president.

To seasoned diplomatic observers, US President Donald Trump’s furious dressing down of Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office was a planned political mugging, a trap set by the Trump administration to discredit the Ukrainian leader and remove him as an obstacle to whatever comes next.

Peter Baker, a veteran journalist and former Moscow correspondent for the New York Times, compared the White House’s decision to Kremlin tactics.

A majority of Russians are in favor of peace talks, but a very vocal minority eye US overtures with suspicion and contempt.

A new administration’s efforts to pressure the news media, punish political opponents and tame the nation’s tycoons evoke the early days of President Vladimir V. Putin’s reign in Russia.