people like Zelenskyy and the innocent people of Ukraine present an obstacle

That was true only at the beginning!

Meanwhile there are many other countries involved. It has become your typical proxy war, where Ukrainians are just the victims, pawns on the board.

Putin is therefor a natural ally and has taught them a lot on how to manipulate political systems, media, and populations, and create a system of fear and control.

I doubt that Putin actually teaches him.

I rather like to believe that he simply orders him around - by means of “deals”, because that’s Trumps language.