In a move that I’ve long argued for – and frankly, didn’t expect to come – President Trump today finally took a critical step forward in America’s Russia policy. By combining military support for Ukraine with renewed economic pressure and diplomatic engagement, Trump may be laying the groundwork for a policy that has a real chance at ending this brutal war.
Trump Changes His Mind on Ukraine Strategy…
For months, we’ve needed a stronger Ukraine policy rooted in three principles: sustained military support, aggressive economic pressure, and robust diplomacy. These aren’t mutually exclusive. In fact, they work best together. And today, Trump seemed to embrace that reality. Trump had been dragging his feet, but now, under pressure, he’s shifting. That’s welcome, but it’s also a reminder that leadership delayed is leadership denied.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Yes, this was the right move. But it’s one that should have happened on day one of his presidency, back when he thought that just a phone call would do the trick of ending the war. It clearly did not.
Instead, we got six months of waffling – months filled with mixed signals, conspiracies, adulation of Vladimir Putin, and reckless threats towards Ukraine and NATO. The cost of that delay has been devastating, both for Ukraine and for America’s credibility on the world stage. It’s taken Trump far too long to see what’s been obvious to most of us all along: that only strength can compel Russia to change course.
Trump Goes Joe Biden on Ukraine War
Today’s announcement is also, in essence, a continuation of the Biden Administration’s Ukraine policy. It echoes what the previous administration spent years building: a mixture of tight coordination with NATO, security assistance to Ukraine, and economic sanctions on Russia. The difference? Biden acted with consistency. Trump has meandered, making us look weak. I’m glad that there’s now a change in both tone and substance.
Importantly, our NATO partners are contributing financially to pay for the weapons we’ve made. That’s a smart move, and a recognition by the administration that collective security can work to amplify our power. Let us hope that this is also the beginning of a new appreciation for American multilateralism.
But even at this momentous juncture, the cracks are visible. Why are we waiting 50 days to implement new sanctions, if, according to Trump’s demand, Putin does not end the war? That means that today, despite the headlines, no new sanctions are being implemented, and that Putin is in control of the sanctions timetable.
Why not implement them now, when they could bite hardest? This delay sends a signal that we’re not serious enough, and are instead waiting to see if Putin will agree. This will likely give Putin more time to maneuver, delay, and bomb.
And what about Congressional sanctions? Trump still hasn’t greenlit the package that’s supported by 85 senators. That’s because he’s demanding that any new sanctions bill have a full presidential waiver in it, thereby giving him unearned wiggle room and writing out Congressional oversight, raising serious concerns about whether he’s committed to seeing this through.
Will Trump Really Do It?
It still goes without saying that I’m glad that Trump is moving in this direction. And yes, I’ll give credit where it’s due. But until this policy is fully executed – until those weapons arrive and those sanctions hit – I’ll believe it when I see it. Only then will we be confident that a new policy has come and that Putin will feel to pinch to change course.
It’s also worth remembering how far we’ve come. This is the same Donald Trump who once called Putin a “genius” for invading Ukraine, who withheld aid from Ukraine while pressuring its president for political favors, and who sought to appease the Kremlin under the guise of restoring U.S.-Russia relations.
But you can’t rebuild a relationship with Moscow by abandoning your democratic allies. Ukraine’s resilience, NATO’s unity, and Putin’s public humiliation of Trump’s calls for a ceasefire are what has forced Trump’s hand.
This shift therefore opens a potential path forward. If implemented with consistency and clarity, it could reset the board; not to surrender to Russia, and not to prolong a quagmire, but to create the conditions necessary for real negotiations. That means weakening Russia’s leverage while strengthening Ukraine’s hand – exactly what today’s moves aim to do.
So, Trump can’t let up. He must see this through to get a diplomatic deal that will end this war. This war will end when the costs of aggression outweigh the benefits – and today, Donald Trump took a step towards making that calculation real for Vladimir Putin.
So yes, I’m surprised. But I’m also hopeful. Trump has shown some backbone on Russia. Let’s hope he keeps it, because Ukraine doesn’t have time to wait. And neither do we.
About the Author: Joel Rubin
Joel Rubin is a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and the Author of The Briefing Book on Substack. He’s also a member of National Security Leaders for America. You can follow home on X: @joelmartinrubin.
Military Matters
Russia’s Su-57 Felon Stealth Fighter Is a Waste of Rubles
waco
July 14, 2025 at 4:50 pm
Joe biden, the cancer-stricken joe, a.k.a. Genocide Joe, is totally and uncontroversially the chief architect and chief director and script writer of the ukro war.
Biden is the chief high priest behind the biggest mindless bloodletting taking place in europe since ’45.
But everyone is fiercely and falsely blaming russia.
Today, in july 2025, trump is emulating genocide joe.
Trump today, now, is totally and uncontroversially fueling the ukro war (and also the gaza war).
But he BLAMES putin.
Thus, trump.is the evil EVIL god osiris behind the wanton continuation of the ukro war.
Topol
July 14, 2025 at 5:31 pm
Joe robinette biden once threatened (hypothetically) to bomb the HELL out of canada.
It was 1982, joe was still a budding senator, yet by then already very unmistakably showing worrying signs of possessing an unhinged mind.
Menachem begin was visiting washington, his visit precipitated by the ongoing violence in northern israel-southern lebanon.
Upon meeting begin, biden lunged straight into a vitriolic speech where he said in a robot-style speaking manner – “If somebody attacks my country from the north, I’ll bomb all his cities, all his people, all his women and children.”
North of US, by the way, is canada.
Today, trump is showing he’s exactly and totally same as biden.
Jim
July 14, 2025 at 8:39 pm
He sure does.
megiddo
July 14, 2025 at 10:16 pm
Donald trump has very hypocritically issued a direct threat to Russia demanding it to end the war in Donbass within fifty days.
What about the ukro Nazis.
They don’t have to end the war, they only need to keep fighting for their aloizovitch to claim total victory.
What about the ongoing war of unspeakable bloodbath in gaza.
The IDF don’t have to stop shooting, bombing and shelling. The IDF needs only to keep its military operation going for netanyahu to claim unmitigated success.
The orange tan can go-to hell.
Now is the time to use nukes and end the war within thirty days !!!
doyle-1
July 15, 2025 at 12:30 am
Trump’s now rolling out threats like a big city’s high street baker rolling out breakfast buns.
Somebody NEEDS to stop him as dark vile evil threats are as different from buns as fire is from water.
To hell with trumpo taco trump.
Doesn’t he KNOW that the US prints dollars and outputs weapons while the rest of the world make or manufacture goods needed for use in daily life.
That’s like a devil compared to a human. Two greatly different entities. With two different aims.
But the man who must be chucked into the dock right now is xi jinping of china.
Xi is the big man in the whole world today quickest at grovelling and kissing trump’s big fat unwashed backside.
Xi has ignored the sufferings of gaza and Donbass.
Instead xi is bowing to american officials demanding china quickly provide rare minerals ‘upfront’ and to western media pundits demanding china provide unsustainable and stupid silly dangerous stimulus ‘upfront’.
To hell with xi. And to hell with trumpo taco trump.
Swamplaw Yankee
July 15, 2025 at 5:31 pm
MAGA POTUS Trump “let up” months ago. Trump self-abdicated himself from leader of the western world. Trump has reduced himself down to a regional player.
The Monday kibuki theatre was a gift from the POTUS to the 11 year old human trafficking ring run by Putin. This unneeded POTUS gift was for 3 months of additional free cuddling of mass kidnapped Ukrainian children by orc russian pedophiles.
This originates in the 2014 POTUS Obama Democrat Cabal covert betrayal of the WEST by their unilateral greenlighting of the “Little Green groomer’ invasion of ancient Ukrainian soil: Crimea.
Instead of demanding that PUtin immediately pre-pay $10,000,000 per each and every human traffick victim as compensation and reparation now, before the use of another code word bluff, like “cease fire” and “peace”: Trump gifts these pedophiles with 50 more days of free, no-cost, demeaning sexual contact with little children.
With a 20125 free gift to Putin’s orc muscovite elite genetic needs, Ukrainian fathers will be maimed and killed as “promised” military hardware snails side to side. The 1616 battle where Ukrainian fathers killed muscovite pedophiles went faster and smoother.
The 2025 Yankee is incapable of negotiating effectively with the experienced Muscovite sex traders. It is about sexual control a la “LOLITA” not about sitting at some table with biggies in moral turpitude. The Yankee must not be allowed in the same room to attempt a feeble play at a game of “negotiation” with Putin’s super Epstein mass abduction organizers. -30-