WSJ: Trump increases pressure on Ukraine ahead of Putin talks

The administration of US President Donald Trump is reportedly stepping up pressure on Ukraine ahead of his upcoming face-to-face talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump is hoping that another round of personal diplomacy will produce a breakthrough in the more than three-year-long war in Ukraine, following months of stalled peace negotiations, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal.

The publication notes that the White House is proceeding cautiously regarding any tightening of sanctions against Moscow.

Former US Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Daniel Fried said that Washington has “tools to increase economic and military pressure on Russia,” but they are “not being used.”

Trump’s team is aiming to support the president’s leader-to-leader talks with more diplomatic leverage than was applied during his August summit with Putin. To prepare for an agreement, the US plans to hold more lower-level meetings with Russia than were conducted before the Alaska talks, according to administration officials. The US delegation will be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio rather than special envoy Steve Witkoff, a move viewed positively by Ukrainian and European officials.

Trump indicated that he hoped Ukraine wouldn’t need the missiles, suggesting a desire to resolve the conflict through diplomacy. However, he also made it clear that the threat remains on the table. US officials hope this will push Putin to take serious steps toward ending the war, which began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

WSJ also reports that Ukraine has recently faced diplomatic pressure from Washington. This was evident during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the US, where he did not receive assurances regarding the delivery of long-range Tomahawk missiles.

Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported that during a meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy, Advisor Witkoff reportedly “applied pressure on the Ukrainian delegation,” suggesting they “hand control” of the occupied Donetsk territory to Russia, arguing that the region is “predominantly Russian-speaking.”

By Nazrin Sadigova