Six month ago US President Donald Trump had pledged he would measure his success by “the wars we end” and “the wars we never get into”. Six month ago, Donald Trump had praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an approach seemingly different from his predecessor Joe Biden regarding the Russia-Ukraine war.
When Russia was preparing to invade Ukraine in 2022, Donald Trump had called Putin a “genius” for moving to seize large swaths of territory — applauding what he viewed as hard-line negotiation tactics.
“How smart is that? And he’s going to go in and be a peacekeeper,” Trump had said, adding: “Here’s a guy who’s very savvy. I know him very well.”
Six month later, US president Donald Trump threatened Putin with 100% tariffs, a 50-day deadline to reach a peace agreement with Ukraine.
Months after publicly berating Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, Donald Trump has now adopted an approach toward Russia that, at least on the surface, looks very much like his predecessor’s: arming the Ukrainians to fight off an invasion.
For Donald Trump, the decision to sell more arms to Ukraine — albeit through European nations that will foot the bill— and threaten Russia with deep sanctions on energy exports in 50 days if it does not negotiate a peace marks a complete reversal of the approach he took in his first months in office.
As Biden quit the US Presidential race, and Kamala Harris took over as the Democrat’ candidate, Donald Trump had offered a different perspective for the Russia-Ukraine war. He claimed that he ‘got along’ with Putin ‘very well’, and vowed to ‘end’ the Russa-Ukraine war which was seemingly draining the US coffers.
Trump’s Changing Tone on Putin
Once he took office in January 2025, Donald Trump blamed the Ukrainians for Russia’s invasion of their own country. Then he clashed with President Volodymyr Zelensky in an extraordinary Oval Office display, telling him, “You don’t have the cards.”
Donald Trump gave Russia a pass on tariffs and praised Putin for his strength, and provided assurance that Ukraine would never join NATO.
Even on Monday, Trump lamented that he had several conversations with Putin earlier this year that, in his telling, seemed fruitful but ultimately led to nothing changing.
Donald Trump’s Growing Frustration with Putin
Earlier, many of Trump’s comments about Russia’s Putin have reflected his anger about the US investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election that dominated his first term.
“Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,” he said in February, seated next to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in the Oval Office.
But in recent weeks, Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with his Russian counterpart over the lack of progress on a cease-fire in Ukraine, as The New York Times has reported.
“I am disappointed in President Putin,” Trump said on Monday, announcing his plans to impose “very severe” tariffs that would hurt Russia if it does not agree to a cease-fire deal in the next 50 days. “The talk doesn’t mean anything.”
“My conversations with him are always very pleasant,” Trump said of Putin. “And then the missiles go off that night.”
Trump Circles Back to Supporting Ukraine
President Trump’s new plan to send weapons to Ukraine and his simultaneous threat of harsh penalties on Russia’s trading partners reflect a dramatic shift in his position on the war, but his proposals leave key details unclear.
Speaking alongside NATO’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, at the White House on Monday, US president Trump said that Patriot air defense systems and other arms would “quickly” be transferred to Ukraine, which is in desperate need of more weapons to fend off Russia’s invasion.
Trump said the United States would sell those arms to European nations, which would ship them to Ukraine or use them to replace weapons they send to the country from their existing stocks.
But Pentagon officials said later that many details were still being worked out.
Will Trump Stick To Backing Ukraine?
There is reason to doubt the US President will stick with it. Even his statements of support for Ukraine on Monday, as he sat in the Oval Office with Mark Rutte, made clear that Trump planned to keep his distance from direct ownership of what might come next unless it is a peace agreement.
“This is not Trump’s war,” he told reporters. “This is a Biden war, this is a Democrat war.”
Moreover, the US president was clearly sensitive to the charge that in his first half-year in office, he was deceived by President Vladimir Putin, hoping that the Russian leader would reciprocate for the fact that Trump was agreeing, pre-emptively, to many of Putin’s demands. “He fooled Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden — he didn’t fool me,” Trump insisted.
