The phone call was one that people, above all in Ukraine, had been anticipating.

They had hoped that the conversation between US President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin would bring a bit more peace to their country after some three years of war.

However, after two hours of conversation, the results are sobering, numerous observers told DW.

Putin and Trump agreed to an immediate pause in strikes against energy infrastructure in Ukraine and Russia for 30 days. 

Also, rather surprisingly, the two superpowers are to play ice hockey with each other again.

According to a Kremlin press release, Trump suggested stopping Russia's attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure for thirty days.

Putin has agreed to do this immediately and has in turn demanded a complete cessation of military aid and intelligence activities for Ukraine as an "essential prerequisite" for the start of a peace settlement.

During the call, Putin also reiterated his demand for an end to foreign military and intelligence assistance to Ukraine, according to the Kremlin.

Putin claims that monitoring compliance with a complete 30-day ceasefire is associated with "serious risks."

No agreement was reached on this issue.

Can relations be normalized?

Putin also told Trump that Russia and Ukraine are set to exchange 175 prisoners of war each on Wednesday (March 19), and Russia will also hand over 23 badly wounded soldiers to Ukraine, the Kremlin said.

Putin also acknowledged Trump's desire to promote the "noble goal of ending the hostilities and loss of life."

Both presidents also expressed their interest in normalizing bilateral Russian-American relations and discussed ideas for economic cooperation.

Finally, and surprisingly, Trump supported Putin's idea of organizing ice hockey matches between the Russian Kontinental Hockey League and the American National Hockey League.

For Anton Barbaschin, a political scientist at the political analysis portal Riddle Russia, the talks did not produce anything tangible.

"The real agenda was a complete ceasefire. At least that's what the US was talking about, and Ukraine also agreed. Now we see that this goal has been postponed to the day after tomorrow," the observer said. "The agreement not to fire on the energy objects is a 'sign of a certain dialog' and nothing else," he added.

"Playing with Donald Trump"

Mikhail Komin, an independent Russian political scientist based in Austria's capital Vienna, identified Putin's special negotiating tactics in the results of the phone call.

In Komin's words, this is "playing a game with Donald Trump."

These tactics consist of three points, the political scientist explains.

The first point is playing along and agreeing to small, insignificant compromises.

"This time, the compromise was to refrain from firing at energy objects," he told DW.

Just like Anton Barbaschin, also Komin views the result of the talk as "nothing serious", especially as "the heating season in Ukraine is as practically over."

According to Komin, the second element of Putin's tactics is delay.

"Putin is throwing additional obstacles into the negotiations. These are additional conditions for continuing the ceasefire talks," he told DW.

The expert cites the restriction of mobilization in Ukraine and the halting of US arms deliveries as examples.

Lastly, he pointed out that the third aspect relates to information that underlines the special nature of the relationship between Trump and Putin, and consequently between the USA and Russia.

In this case, it was the allegedly longest conversation between the presidents of the US and Russia since 1991 as well as the fact that the two heads of state had agreed that Russian and American professional ice hockey leagues should compete against each other. Both aspects were very well received in the US press.

"This is a purely symbolic act that Putin needs to show that he and Trump are solving major issues in world politics, but are not forgetting to maintain their excellent relations," Komin told DW.

Occupation de facto recognized

The political scientist Alexandra Filippenko, who lives in Vilnius, Lithuania, echoes the view on the special nature of the Putin-Trump relationship.

"It was demonstrated after the phone call even though there was no breakthrough," she told DW.

"While the exchange of prisoners of war and the release of seriously wounded Ukrainians is important, the conversation did not lead to the ceasefire that many had expected from this conversation," she said.

In her view, Donald Trump takes a rather pragmatic view of the solution to the Ukraine issue and makes it dependent on the situation on the front.

"Realistically, Crimea and the Donbas and some other Ukrainian territories are occupied. Trump sees this as a given, he doesn't seem to be convinced by idealistic demands to return these territories to Ukraine," she said.

However, the observer doubts that Trump's praise and flattery of Putin might translate into real political decisions.

After all, the US president has also praised China's head of state Xi Jinping, she said.

"His personal attitude does have an impact on relations with other politicians, but it doesn't seem to influence the actual decision-making process," Filippenko told DW, adding that "Trump is not naive. Despite his fascination with strong leaders, he remains sober when it comes to Vladimir Putin."

Meanwhile, political expert Anton Barbaschin is convinced that nothing will change in the coming months.

The Russian army will attack, the Ukrainian army will defend, he said.

"By and large, the ball is in the court of Ukraine's European partners. Will they fill the military gap left by the US? Will they increase the supply of weapons?" he asks, adding that "in all likelihood, Washington will ask the Europeans to cut back on aid to Ukraine."

"However, nothing good will come of it for Ukraine," Barbaschin predicts.

Maria Katamadse contributed to this article which was originally published in German.