Key Points – President Trump’s frustration with Vladimir Putin is reportedly growing as his efforts to broker peace in Ukraine stall, especially after recent Russian escalations.
-Trump, who recently called Putin “crazy,” is now said to be “absolutely” considering new US sanctions against Russia if Moscow doesn’t engage seriously in peace negotiations.
-Republican senators have a sanctions bill ready, awaiting Trump’s go-ahead. While new direct US military aid to Ukraine seems unlikely, Germany has pledged to help Kyiv develop long-range weapons.
-Russia, meanwhile, has proposed new talks in Istanbul for June 2nd, even as it deploys new advanced drones on the Ukraine War battlefield.
Trump’s Next Move on Ukraine: New Sanctions on Russia After Putin ‘Plays With Fire’?
President Donald Trump has spent much of the Ukraine war walking a careful line, criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy one moment and calling Putin “crazy” the next. Analysts and reporters have long claimed that Trump’s approach to the war is both inconsistent and too lenient with the Russians.
After Russia’s latest wave of drone strikes on Ukrainian cities over the weekend and a recent meeting with Zelenskyy, however, it looks as though President Trump is reaching the limits of his goodwill for Russia.
And sanctions are now very much on the cards.
During a briefing in Kyiv this week, Zelenskyy revealed details of a private meeting with Trump at the Vatican on April 26. The meeting, which took place during Pope Francis’s funeral, left the Ukrainian leader with the clear impression that Trump was considering new sanctions on Russia.
“President Trump supported that if Russia does not stop, there will be sanctions,” Zelenskyy said, according to a report by The Washington Post. “Our conversation was positive from the point of view that I perceive our conversation as a confirmation of the U.S. policy of imposing strong sanctions against Russia if Putin does not agree to a ceasefire.”
According to Zelenskyy, the two sides had a “positive” exchange, and since the conversation, Trump has spoken with both the Russian and Ukrainian leaders – and while a new round of in-person negotiations appears to be on the cards, continued Russian escalation might have pushed Trump over the edge this time.
“He’s Playing With Fire”
On Sunday, after one of the most devastating strikes on Kyiv since the invasion began, Trump broke the surface tension. Speaking to reporters on a runway in New Jersey, the president said he would “absolutely” consider new sanctions on Russia, adding that he was “not happy” with Putin’s actions.
Trump reiterated that message on Truth Social, stating, “What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!”
It’s a dramatic shift in tone from the same president who just weeks ago was mulling a full U.S. withdrawal from the conflict altogether, but it does also fit a broader Trumpian approach to handling conflict: pressure, posture, and if necessary, punishment.
Sanctions – Or Worse over War
While Trump hasn’t publicly detailed what sanctions he might impose on Russia, analysts argue that the most likely targets would be Russia’s energy and banking sectors, which form the two main pillars of the country’s wartime economy. With energy exports remaining one of Russia’s most resilient sources of income despite Western sanctions, thanks to Russia’s ability to sell discounted oil to friendly nations as the West boycotts its supplies, Trump may be looking at ways to hurt the Russian economy without the use of sanctions at all.
Comments made by national security analyst EJ Kimball on Fox News in recent days suggest that Trump’s recent visit to the Middle East, during which he worked to forge new partnerships with traditionally hostile countries, may be part of a wider effort to lower the price of oil globally and make Russia’s offerings less competitive.
Still, nothing is guaranteed. Trump has made clear that he’s willing to give diplomacy a chance, but he has also drawn a line in the sand with Russia over its maximalist demands over Ukrainian territory. The U.S. president may still be willing to facilitate a deal that involves Ukraine ceding some territory to Russia, but for as long as Russia escalates while Trump tries to negotiate a deal favorable to Russia – particularly after years of NATO countries refusing to accept anything other than a straight win for Ukraine – the chances of new sanctions grow.
About the Author:
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society. His latest book is The Truth Teller: RFK Jr. and the Case for a Post-Partisan Presidency.
What Are Europe’s Best Weapons of War?
Swamplaw Yankee
May 29, 2025 at 3:14 am
Big Fish in a small hole is the analogy here. The USA MSM headlines the MAGA POTUS. But, what do the competing empires think about the head fella? Who will report that nebulous bullseye to 1945 readers?
The orc muscovite elite have non-financial motives as well.
The past imperial structure of russia is still an emotional concept to the orc elite. The aim to re-conquer lost lands seems to be a stated principle.
The old imperial structure had a legal slave sex trade. The trade seemed very profitable and the russian peasant orc lingered as other western states abolished slavery. The Imperial structure abolished slavery in old christian russia but, slyly allowed their subject muslim khanates the legal right to sex trade slaves.
The 2013-14 Obama=Biden-Democrat cabal unilaterally greenlighted the free, no- cost, giveaway of the Ukrainian Crimean land mass and Black/Azov Sea zones to the prime, vile cold war enemy of the WEST: Putin.
Putin was ecstatic, immediately instructing his “little green groomers” to direct traitor local russians to kidnap Ukrainian children and pass them on to imperial regular troops. In the confusion of local 2014 anarchy, local russians butchered their neighbours and fight towns shortly revealed basements full of butchered Ukrainians, minus their “harvested” children.
The regular imperial troops air-freighted these kidnapped children back to needy muscovite language teachers.
Trump needs to demand of Putin the immediate payment of $10,000,000 in gold bullion to each kidnap victim as compensation.
That will stop the war: after 100,00o payments are made of gold bullion, the need to pay off the rest of the children will stop the war schedule! Guaranteed.
Sanction from here to eternity, but the immediate reparation in gold bullion will stop the flow of the war, the psychological underpinning of vile imperial russian slave trading underbelly history! -30-