From the beginning of his second term in 2025, President Donald Trump has shown little regard for Ukraine or its president, Volodymyr Zelensky.  He terminated virtually all U.S. military and financial assistance for Kyiv and bestowed a series of gifts on Vladimir Putin.  This October, he has gone further, moving to align the United States with Russia against Ukraine.

Trump’s policy turn is wrong-headed, both morally and strategically.  And, instead of bringing the war closer to an end, he undermines his mediation bid and makes peace harder to achieve.

Trump’s Turn

Recent events have left Ukrainians and Europeans shell-shocked.  On October 9, Trump announced the United States would purchase Russian diesel fuel.  That will send U.S. dollars to Moscow, where they will help fuel the Russian war machine.

On October 16, the president waived powerful new sanctions on Russia provided in the Lindsay Graham Sanctions Bill, which he had signed less than a month before.  Moreover, Zelensky and Ukrainian frontline commanders reported disruptions to the Starlink and Starshield communications links vital to Ukrainian defensive operations. That followed on threats of ending U.S. intelligence-sharing reportedly voiced by U.S. officials to their Ukrainian counterparts.

Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries seem to have triggered Trump’s swing toward Moscow. He has sought to blame those attacks, rather than the chaos caused in the Persian Gulf by his own war of choice against Iran, for high diesel prices in America.

On October 11, Trump announced a ceasefire agreement by Kyiv and Moscow on attacks on energy facilities, to the apparent surprise of Ukrainians and Russians alike.  Zelensky said he would agree to a mutual ceasefire and suspended attacks on Russia oil refineries for three days.  Russia kept right on striking energy infrastructure in Ukraine. When the Ukrainians resumed hitting Russian refineries, Trump bizarrely let Moscow off the hook and took it out on Zelensky.

Wrong-Headed Move

By all appearances, Trump has long admired Putin and sought to be a friend.  But aligning the United States with Russia in its war against Ukraine is wrong morally and strategically.

Morally, Russia is the aggressor.  Russian military forces brazenly seized Crimea in March 2014, became involved in fighting in Donbas later that year, and launched an all-out invasion in February 2022 intended to end the Ukrainian state.  Having failed to gain much territory on the battlefield this year, Russian attacks increasingly focus on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities and civilians.  Ukraine is the victim.

Strategically, Trump has increased the prospect of Russian victory, either on the battlefield or if Kyiv has to accept a bad peace deal. That is not in the U.S. interest. Putin’s neo-imperialist ambitions may not end with Ukraine; he talks about recovering Russia’s “historical” territory.   Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, all now members of NATO, were once part of the Russian Empire.  A Putin who is victorious against Ukraine will be emboldened and pose a greater threat to Europe and vital American national interests.

Sadly, Trump does not seem to understand this. 

Undermining his Mediation Bid

Trump’s actions also undermine his own mediation effort.  The decisions to buy Russian diesel and waive sanctions on Russian are just the latest in a long line of Trump gifts to Putin.  In February 2025, Trump kicked off his bid to settle the war by stating that Ukraine could not hope to gain back all its territory or to join NATO, major concessions to the Russian position.

Trump broke the Western boycott on contacts with Putin, first with a phone call in February 2025 and then by inviting Putin to meet in Alaska.  In spring 2025, Trump set deadlines for the sides to agree to a ceasefire, then kept granting Putin “two more weeks” to agree to something the Russian leader obviously had no intention of accepting. On the way to Alaska in August 2025, Trump told reporters Putin would agree to a ceasefire or Russia would face severe consequences.  In the event, Putin did not agree to a ceasefire, and Trump imposed no consequences.

Over the past year, Zelensky has indicated a readiness to make painful compromises to achieve peace, including de facto recognition of Russian occupation of a large part of Ukraine.  Putin has offered nothing comparable.  In fact, senior Russian officials repeatedly state that Russian demands are the same as those Putin put forward in 2024.  That suggests Trump’s mediation work, including Steve Witkoff’s nine trips to Moscow, has yielded no change in the Kremlin position.

But Trump keeps on giving.

U.S. mediators reportedly remarked that the decision to buy Russian diesel was intended to “soften” Moscow’s position and elicit Russian concessions.  Trump himself said he waived sanctions on Russia because he did not want to disrupt the negotiating process.

However, nineteen months of Trump gifts and concessions to Russia have yielded nothing tangible in return for ending the war.  They have only nurtured Putin’s beliefs that Trump is weak and that he can successfully game the American president and await further gifts.

This is not the way to deal with the Russian leader. If Trump wishes his mediation to succeed, he must use the substantial leverage that he has, including in the Lindsay Graham Sanctions Bill, to increase pressure on Putin to negotiate in a serious way.  Putin will change course only when he realizes that he will fail on the battlefield and that the costs for Russia of continuing to try will only multiply.

Trump’s failure to apply pressure on Putin means this horrible war will continue.  He has an opportunity to stop it, but he is blowing it.