Remember when U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in the Oval Office last year?
It was perhaps one of the most memorable and disconcerting episodes in the history of relations between the two countries.
Tim Murry, a foreign threats compound contractor, drives a T-72 battle tank into position to serve as adversary targets for a joint service exercise, Emerald Flag, at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., Nov. 30. Emerald Flag is a multi-service exercise aimed to unify information sharing across joint domain platforms. (U.S. Air Force photo/1st Lt Karissa Rodriguez)
T-72 Tank. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
The February 2025 meeting, broadcast live before the world press, was perceived as a controversial diplomatic car crash at the time.
Trump and Zelenskyy’s Awkward Exchange
“Your country is in big trouble. You’re not winning,” Trump told Zelenskyy while the cameras rolled, adding, “You don’t have the cards.”
Following the visibly awkward clash, the Ukrainian delegation was requested to depart the White House. Washington also temporarily suspended intelligence sharing with Kyiv.
Trump Row Was ‘Wake-up Call’
One unnamed European military official told AP that the blowup was “a real wake-up call” that pushed Ukraine toward investing more in its own defense.
Over the following months, Russia made some bloody but steady gains on the battlefield.
T-72 Tank from Russia. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Trump also welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin to talks in Alaska, appearing poised to pressure Ukraine into an undesirable peace deal, which would obligate it to cede territory to Russia.
But while all this unfolded, Zelenskyy’s forces were planning to humiliate Russia and penetrate deep into its territory.
Indeed, that very summer a huge operation unfolded. On June 1st, Ukrainian drones were smuggled behind the front line, where they targeted Russian bombers and wrecked expensive military jets.
Kyiv Ups Its Game
Kyiv has since proved its grit and determination by ramping up a campaign of longer-range strikes within Russian territories and those occupied by Moscow, including Crimea.
Ukraine has also vastly upped its domestic weapons production, expanding it 35-fold. It is also hitting Russian air defenses, lucrative oil infrastructure, and retail warehouses belonging to the “Wildberries” firm accused of aiding the Russian war effort.
Such visible strikes and attacks on fuel supplies mean that ordinary Russians are undoubtedly feeling the brunt of the war more than before.
Highly public incidents have also proved embarrassing to the Kremlin.
Last June, Ukrainian attacks even sent vast plumes of smoke across the St. Petersburg skyline just ahead of its high-profile international economic forum.
By this Spring, Ukraine’s slew of attacks even prompted Russian authorities to scale down its historically grand May 9 military show in Red Square that honors the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s surrender to the Allies in World War Two.
When Trump and Zelenskyy met again at the July 2026 NATO summit in Ankara, the public approach had shifted.
The U.S. noted that the Ukrainian President had “been very effective” in the conflict, and that a “good relationship” had blossomed between the pair.
This year, Ukraine has continued pressuring Moscow, launching triple the number of longer-range attacks in July as it did in January.
Ukraine Makes Deep Hits Inside Russia
Just last month Kyiv claimed to have hit Russia’s largest oil refinery of Omsk in western Siberia, over 2,500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
Obviously, the damage these Ukrainian attacks inflict varies hugely, and it is not always possible to verify claims.
However, Kyiv has clearly upped its game regardless of how damaging last February’s White House clip may have been in the short term.
Still, Ukraine’s strikes may have intensified as Russia’s have, with the latter launching almost nightly aerial bombardments.
Kyiv is grappling with anxieties about its future defense plans due to shortages of American-made Patriot air defense missiles.
These are among the few interceptors capable of downing the long-range missiles Russia often uses in its attacks.
Some 1,396 civilians were killed in Ukraine between January 1 and June 30 of this year, the United Nations says it has verified.
The UN also noted that Russian authorities had reported 250 civilians killed over the same six-month time period.
The question is, will any of this push Putin back to the negotiating table?
At present, this seems unlikely.
On August 6, Rodion Miroshnik, Russia’s special envoy for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said his country should brace itself for protracted warfare, and that no peace deal was in sight.
About the Author: Georgia Gilholy
Georgia Gilholy is a journalist based in the United Kingdom who has been published in Newsweek, The Times of Israel, and the Spectator. Gilholy writes about international politics, culture, and education.
