Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are back on good terms.
The US and Russian presidents are sharply criticizing Europe over the impasse in efforts to end the war in Ukraine, three weeks after their high-profile, if low-profile, summit in Alaska.
On Thursday, in a phone call with European leaders, Trump called on Europe to step up its efforts. However, the only progressive diplomatic activity related to the war has come from America’s transatlantic allies, who are trying to secure security guarantees to protect Ukraine after any peace agreement.
This latest development in the president’s erratic diplomacy toward Ukraine came a day after he told reporters he planned to speak again soon with Putin to determine “what we’re going to do.” Trump refused to say whether he would agree to impose direct and severe sanctions on Russia if Putin continued to stall his peace initiative, as the Russian president ignored several two-week deadlines, the latest of which expired Friday. “Whatever he decides, we’re either happy with it or we’re not. And if we’re not, you’ll see what happens,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
Trump met with Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday, along with other European leaders. The Ukrainian president later said the conversation focused on economic pressure on Russia and “depriving the Russian war machine of financial resources.”
But the message the United States sent after the call was more critical of the Europeans than of Russia.
A White House official said after the call that Trump “stressed the need for Europe to stop buying Russian oil, which is financing the war. Russia received €1.1 billion in fuel sales from the EU in one year.” He added: “The president also stressed the need for European leaders to exert economic pressure on China to finance the Russian war effort.”
In a way, Trump is right. Given the serious threat Russia poses to European security, it is strange that an EU country continues to purchase Russian energy while the West has imposed sanctions in an attempt to weaken Moscow’s economy following its illegal invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
However, as with many of Trump’s positions on war, his pressure on Europe has illogical, even hypocritical, elements. After all, he is demanding that Europe confront China over its purchases of Russian oil, while he himself refuses to punish Beijing. The United States is engaged in trade negotiations with China after the president launched a trade war with steep tariffs, despite a fragile financial situation in the United States’ favor. Trump appears reluctant to take any action that might jeopardize his chances of reaching an agreement.
But his stance on Europe mirrors his treatment of India, his former ally, which faces 50% tariffs on its exports to the United States, which Trump has consistently justified by citing his purchases of Russian oil. His decision shattered three decades of attempts by successive Democratic and Republican presidents to distance India from the orbit of China, a rising Asian power.
The cost of his strategy was evident this week when Chinese President Xi Jinping warmly welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a summit of powerful leaders. Meanwhile, Modi spent an hour in Putin’s limousine, echoing the Russian leader’s ride in Trump’s armored car during their summit in Alaska three weeks ago.
In any case, the growing pressure on Europe to reduce its oil purchases from Putin is unlikely to be decisive. The continent has taken steps to reduce its dependence on Russian energy as the war rages in Ukraine. Russia was previously the European Union’s largest oil supplier, but member states have since imposed bans on exports of offshore oil and refined petroleum products. CNN’s Lauren Kent reported last month that oil imports to Europe fell to $1.72 billion in the first quarter of 2025, compared to $16.4 billion in the same period in 2021.
Russia seeks to split the US and Europe
Meanwhile, Russia is intensifying its traditional strategy of sowing discord among its NATO allies, seeking to give its forces the leeway needed to exert new pressure on the front lines in eastern Ukraine.
During his visit to China, Putin met with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and accused Europeans of stirring up “hysteria” over Moscow’s alleged plans to attack Europe. “Any sensible person understands perfectly well that Russia has never had, and will never have, the slightest desire to attack anyone,” said the Russian president, whose forces entered Ukraine in 2014 and 2022.
In Alaska, Putin, alongside a US president who has repeatedly criticized America’s allies, warned that Europe must not “hinder” its diplomacy with Trump.
Earlier this week, the European Commission announced that a plane carrying its president, Ursula von der Leyen, had experienced GPS interference during its landing in Bulgaria on Sunday, and that Russia was suspected. Moscow called the allegation “false” and indicative of European “megalomania.”
In a further attack on Europe this week, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that Russia considered the idea of deploying foreign troops to Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement “unacceptable.” It was Moscow’s latest attempt to thwart a European attempt to deploy a reassurance force in post-war Ukraine.
Nor was there any mention of the Putin-Zelensky meeting that White House officials confidently announced two weeks ago. Putin had offered to hold talks in Moscow. But since it is impossible for Zelensky to feel safe in such a setting, this constitutes yet another example of obstruction.
Trump had previously suggested involving him as a third party in such discussions, but he reverted to the Russian position that a face-to-face meeting is necessary first. Ukraine’s allies fear Putin could provoke a confrontation during a bilateral meeting, which could allow him to argue with Trump that Zelensky sabotaged the process.
Some movement on security guarantees — but Russia would be a roadblock
A glimmer of hope for progress emerged Thursday, although it depended on the unlikely success of Trump’s peace initiative, which collapsed before it could even get off the ground.
Following a phone call between Trump, Zelensky, and members of the “coalition of the willing” of Ukraine’s allies, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that 26 countries had pledged to contribute to a potential peacekeeping force if a ceasefire agreement is reached.
Macron said that, in addition to strengthening Ukraine’s armed forces and deploying European troops in Ukraine, the third element of security guarantees for Ukraine should be an “American backstop.” The United States has informed its allies that it is open to a limited role in providing security guarantees to Ukraine if a peace agreement with Russia is reached.
After another week of meager progress toward peace in Ukraine, it’s no surprise, as CNN’s Alina Train reports, that Trump is frustrated.
But there’s little sign he has a promising idea for breaking the impasse.