Donald Trump does not know how to handle Vladimir Putin, the former US ambassador to Ukraine has said. 

Steven Pifer told Sky’s The World he’s been watching developments closely in recent days, and has assessed that Putin doesn’t see any strength in the White House. 

Discussing so-called concessions made by Putin in a call with the president yesterday, he said he “cannot see anything of value to the United States that Trump has received in return”. 

“It’s not the way to deal with Putin – and I don’t think Putin sees strength in the White House at the moment,” Pifer added. 

He also suggested three things Trump could do immediately to put Putin on the back foot. 

• Tighten Western sanctions on Russia;
• Speak to the G7 about using actually using the frozen Russian assets seized at the outbreak of war towards funding Ukraine;
• Approach Congress to approve more weapons for Kyiv

“We’ve used a lot of carrots with Moscow – I think it’s time for some sticks,” Pifer said.

He said moves like those outlined above would force Putin to “get serious” and see that, without backing down on some of his outlandish demands, the war will continue with “increasing military, economic and political costs for Russia”. 

“Until you do that, I’m not sure you’re going to get Putin to move off of his maximalist demands.”