DONALD Trump is getting played by the blood-soaked tyrant in the Kremlin – and he doesn’t seem to care. President Putin is a ruthless liar and a KGB-trained manipulator with a raft of experts behind him. Trump is a “trust your instincts” egomaniac who sees the world as a real estate deal. His advisors are tech-bros and golf pals. Trump is putty in Putin’s hands. Take their most recent exchange, for example. On Thursday Putin rejected Donald Trump’s 30-day ceasefire plan for Ukraine. This was a slap in the face for Trump’s goal of ending the war ASAP. Putin gave the American plan the finger in the Kremlin – and yet Trump hailed Thursday’s exchange as “very good and productive”. And Trump went even further. In a message on Truth Social yesterday he appealed to Putin’s mercy not to “massacre” Ukrainians. This is extraordinary. Putin is a wanted war criminal whose botched invasion has killed and maimed a million soldiers and 40,000 civilians on both sides. His soldiers have committed countless atrocities including rape, torture executing prisoners of war. Yet Trump’s latest post on Truth Social paints Putin as some benevolent emperor who may yet spare the lives of Ukraine’s doomed legions. Trump is the angel of mercy, interceding first to Putin and then to God, on Ukraine’s behalf. How did Putin dupe Trump so spectacularly? The short answer is flattery. He thanked Trump a lot. He fluffed Trump’s ego repeatedly. And claimed that only the two of them – the strongmen – could solve the war together. Asked about the ceasefire on Thursday Trump had a well prepared answer. Putin said: “I would like to start by thanking the President of the United States, Mr Trump, for paying so much attention to the Ukraine settlement.” Leaders are all so busy, Putin said. Only Trump and a handful of others – like China’s Xi Jinping – were devoted to the “noble mission” of ending the war in Ukraine. Secondly, Putin agreed with Trump. He said: “We agree with the proposals to cease hostilities”. Of course there was a catch. Putin still wants to conquer Ukraine. That was couched as solving “the root causes of the conflict”. Thirdly, Putin tried to sow division between the US and Ukraine. Putin clearly know Trump has no love for Ukraine and and bears a grudge against President Zelensky. So Putin claimed the 30-day ceasefire must have been Ukraine’s idea. That way he wasn’t picking holes in Donald Trump’s plan. He was attacking something Ukrainian. Putin said: “I am absolutely convinced that the Ukrainian side should have asked the Americans for this.” Why? Because Putin said his troops were hammering Ukraine, and he made it very clear he wants to keep on hammering them. The soldiers’ options, Putin said, would soon be “surrender or die”. Finally, Putin stressed that he still really wanted a ceasefire – but only on his terms. He seemed confident these quibbles could if he had “a telephone conversation with President Trump”. The Kremlin said the call will be arranged in the near future.