Washington The relationship between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin has notably cooled off in the new administration, but Trump has not yet indicated how much pressure he will put on Russia to stop its grueling conflict with Ukraine.
Trump has made no mention of Putin’s strategic “genius” or skill since he became office. Trump has made a dramatic change in language, warning that the Russian ruler he once referred to as “very smart” is destroying his nation by dragging out the conflict.
On his first day back in the White House, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he [Putin] should strike a deal. I believe that by refusing to make a deal, Putin is ruining Russia. Russia is going to have serious problems, in my opinion.
The frostier tone has a rather straightforward explanation. During the campaign, Trump pledged to put a halt to the fighting at least 24 hours after assuming office. The clock is ticking on Trump’s promise to halt a costly and disastrous war that started almost three years ago when Russia invaded its democratic neighbor, and that time has passed.
Trump requires Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, his Ukrainian counterpart, to meet and negotiate a peace agreement, which for Russia means giving up on annexing Ukraine completely.
Three days after taking office, Trump told the World Economic Forum that Ukraine is willing to negotiate. What about Russia?
“Well,” he answered, “you will have to ask Russia.”
Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia during the Obama administration, stated in an interview that after listening to Trump’s criticism of Putin for nearly ten years, this is the most important thing he has ever said.
A request for comment was not immediately answered by the Russian embassy.
Ways to pressure Putin
According to national security specialists, words by themselves won’t force Putin to abandon his efforts to repress Ukraine. They added that in order for that to occur, Trump will have to show Putin that fighting on is pointless.
It will require some effort. According to former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst and other former officials, Putin is not interested in peace talks as long as Russian troops are slowly advancing in eastern Ukraine and as long as Ukrainian forces are holding seized territory in the Kursk region inside Russia.
Herbst claimed that because his soldiers are advancing, he [Putin] does not want to engage in negotiations at this time. When discussions start, he seeks to gain more Ukrainian land.
In an interview with NBC News, Sergii Leshchenko, a counselor to Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, stated that while Ukraine is amenable to a dialogue, it should be a dialogue. Not a Russian ultimatum. Ukraine showed a willingness to engage in negotiations in this instance. Not in Russia.
It is unknown if Trump is prepared to increase military aid to Kyiv, including long-range missiles, and how far he will go in his confrontation with Russia over Ukraine.
Trump has several measures at his disposal that could encourage Putin to halt the conflict. Will he utilize them, that is the question.
According to a source familiar with the situation, the Trump administration momentarily halted the delivery of weaponry to Ukraine last week, but it was not immediately apparent why. Since then, the shipments have continued.
Kyiv’s war effort against its much larger neighbor would suffer a serious setback if Ukraine were denied access to arms.
The White House’s National Security Council cited Trump’s remarks toward Ukraine during a Monday appearance in the Oval Office when asked about the pause.
Trump told reporters there that he would be willing to tie financial aid to Ukraine’s rare earth resources, which the United States wants in exchange.
Trump declared, “We’re investing hundreds of billions of dollars.” The Ukrainians possess a lot of rare earth elements. And they are prepared to provide the rare earth security that I desire.”
In a statement, White House National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes stated: The United States must recover any funds it has or has spent on help to Ukraine, as President Trump disclosed yesterday. A timeline has not yet been set, and the weekend’s talks focused on the best ways to guarantee that payback.
Split in the Trump administration
According to former U.S. and Ukrainian officials and a source close to the Kyiv government, Trump’s advisers and Cabinet members disagree about how much pressure to apply. National security adviser Mike Waltz and Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg want to use American leverage to pressure Putin to resign.
Others support reducing the billions of dollars in aid that the United States provided to Ukraine during the Biden administration in order to expedite the conflict’s resolution. That strategy would essentially disarm Ukraine, according to its detractors, and would therefore be a surrender to Russia.
Then-Senator JD Vance was a harsh critic of the funding the Biden administration provided Ukraine before he was appointed vice president.
We can’t even pay our own bills at home, so why are we spending $130 billion on Ukraine? In one speech, Vance said. Additionally, he referred to the Ukrainian government as the most corrupt in Europe, if not the entire world.
In a statement, Kellogg told NBC News, “The president’s national security team is in sync.”
According to Kellogg, the president would employ every tool at his disposal to bring an end to the slaughter of the previous three years.
On Tuesday, a representative for Vance declined to comment on his views on U.S. assistance to Ukraine.
Trump has outlined several strategies for supporting Ukraine during the conflict.
He threatened to impose tariffs, sanctions, and taxes on the sale of Russian goods to the United States and other nations if Putin didn’t negotiate an end to the war in a social media post two days after he was sworn in.
One issue with that strategy is that trade between the United States and Russia has drastically decreased, making tariffs less of a stickler. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the United States imported approximately $2.9 billion worth of goods from Russia last year. In comparison, the amount was close to $30 billion in 2021, prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Regarding Trump’s tariff threat, a former national security official from the Biden administration called it a “complete red herring.”
The former official continued, speaking on condition of anonymity to speak freely, “We’ve completely disconnected the U.S. economy from the Russian economy.” Therefore, our potential to harm Russia through tariffs is limited.
Trump may also continue to resupply Ukraine with weapons and supplies using Russia’s own frozen assets rather than American tax funds.
The $300 billion in Russian reserves that are currently in U.S. and European banks would be very helpful in giving Ukraine financial and military support, according to former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor.
What Trump could do is pressure the Europeans to seize those reserves and put them into an account for the Ukrainians and allow the Ukrainians to use that money to buy weapons from the U.S. and continue to operate their government, Taylor said in an interview.
President Trump is aware of how vulnerable the Russian economy is to additional penalties. He stated that he is aware of his influence over Putin.
Supporters of Ukraine feared that once Trump returned to office, he would leave the nation. The warmth he had shown Putin over the years suggested he might bring about a settlement favorable to Russia, they worried.
Trump did not specify if he wanted Ukraine to win the conflict during a discussion with then-Vice President Kamala Harris last year.
But now that he s in office, some who d questioned Trump could be a fair broker have been heartened to see that, at least, his team isn t selling out Ukraine.
I think he [Trump] has started to realize how hard resolving this issue is and that Russia is not going to be constructive unless we apply more pressure, a U.S. official involved in Ukraine and Russia policy said in an interview, speaking on condition of anonymity to talk freely.
One reason Trump s rhetoric has evolved is the switch from campaign to governing mode. The obstacle to peace is not Ukraine. I think that s sort of dawning on him, and it s also dawning on him how bad it would be politically, if nothing else, and strategically, if this f—– up.