By Trudy Rubin / The Philadelphia Inquirer
In his third phone call with Vladimir Putin, President Trump once again bowed to the Russian leader over ending Moscow’s war on Ukraine. The great dealmaker let the Kremlin boss set all the terms.
Trump’s mishandling of Putin was well summed up in an interview I did (before Monday’s Trump-Putin phone call) with the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, one of the best-informed and most dedicated foreign service professionals I have met over decades of foreign reporting.
Brink, who had worked for five presidents and served in Kyiv for three years, recently quit and retired because she felt she could no longer implement White House policy on Ukraine.
“I resigned,” she said, “because the Trump administration’s policy put pressure on the victim, Ukraine, and let the aggressor, Russia, off the hook. This is not the way to end the war in a just and lasting way.”
“Peace at any cost is not peace,” she told me. “It is appeasement, and it just leads to more war.”
One of several moments that convinced Brink she could no longer serve came when Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office back in February.
Another turning point: After a deliberate Russian missile strike slaughtered nine children in a playground in Zelensky’s hometown, Trump officialdom decided the formal condolence note sent by the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv should not blame Russia for the attack.
“They are even afraid to say the word ‘Russian’ when talking about the missile that killed the children,” the Ukrainian president wrote bitterly at the time.
Said Brink: “We continued to put all the blame on Ukraine and not hold Russia to account.”
Until this moment, the former ambassador points out: “There is no indication from Putin that he wants to end this war. I believe he is looking for every way to draw this out, because he believes time is on his side, while he kills men, women and children every day.”
Brink said the U.S. has powerful leverage on Russia if used in coordination with European allies. That includes further sanctions on Russian energy exports and banks, and cooperation in using Russia’s frozen assets in Europe, which could then pay for more U.S. weapons for Ukraine.
“Russia is not as strong as some people think,” she said firmly, with reference to its weakening economy. Ukraine, which has become a global leader in advanced weapons technology, now has the strongest army in Europe. “I’m sure they won’t stop fighting, because they are battling for their future, their independence, and their land.”
If the United States continues to provide some security assets that Europeans lack, such as intelligence cooperation and help with air defenses, and as NATO members boost their military spending (prodded by Trump), a united Western front might well force Putin to bargain seriously.
Yet, as Brink points out, “So far our administration has not taken steps to put additional pressure on Russia in order to achieve peace.”
Instead, the opposite is true. Who can forget Trump’s Truth Social post, after a brutal Russian strike on Kyiv on April 25, pleading with Putin, “Vladimir, STOP!” These two words have become an international meme, poking fun at Trump, especially since Putin ignored him.
The U.S. president has made concession after concession to Putin without requiring any reciprocity, sending a glaring message of weakness.
And Trump’s insistence that only he could resolve the Ukraine war in conversation with Putin was just proved embarrassingly hollow. Putin refused to accept the president’s demand for an immediate, unconditional 30-day ceasefire or face new sanctions, humiliating Trump again before the entire world. After Vladimir said nyet, Trump buckled and made excuses for the Russians. He told journalists there would be no new sanctions, because that might make things “much worse.” No wonder many believe — I don’t — that Putin has kompromat on Trump.
To cover up his kowtow, the president crowed that Russia and Ukraine would now begin negotiations for a ceasefire. This is just what Putin wants: endless rounds of low-level talks, based on the Kremlin’s unyielding demands for complete Ukrainian capitulation. Talks that buy time to undermine the United States, further split the Western alliance, and exhaust Ukraine.
And the key to Putin’s plan is to keep massaging Trump, who is now talking of “largescale TRADE” with Russia, and appears eager to drop, not intensify, sanctions on the Kremlin. Such large-scale trade is a fantasy.
There actually is a much more promising prospect of major trade: with Kyiv (beyond the overhyped minerals deal). Yet, that can only emerge if the fighting ends with a real peace, meaning an independent Ukraine secured from further Russian attack.
“For real peace to happen, it requires naming the aggressor, putting pressure on the aggressor,” Brink said.
“You don’t give up anything in advance,” she noted, until Putin agrees to an unconditional ceasefire. And any agreement will require strong European security guarantees, backed by Washington, and a strong verification mechanism because “the Russians don’t keep agreements.”
“Putin won’t stop at Ukraine,” Brink stated, as history shows. “He wants Europe divided. Russia is aligned with China and North Korea. Russia’s war is an attempt to weaken us. We can’t fall for the bait.”
My fear is that Trump will insist on rolling over for Putin. He hinted Monday that he may withdraw from any mediation role; which could mean halting the still crucial, if dwindling, U.S. military aid authorized under President Biden, and lifting Russian sanctions in pursuit of gas deals and a Trump Tower in Moscow.
Seventy-five senators, Democrats and Republicans, have signed the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025, which calls for imposing sanctions on Russia “if the Government of the Russian Federation refuses to negotiate a peace agreement with Ukraine.”
Would that the GOP signatories had the guts to act.
Trudy Rubin is a columnist and editorial-board member for the The Philadelphia Inquirer. Readers may write to her at trubin@phillynews.com. ©2025 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC., inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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