Vladimir Putin last week sent Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner packing, passing on President Donald Trump’s latest peace plan, and has followed up with yet more aerial assaults on Ukrainian civilians; it’s plainly time for Trump to up the economic pressure to get Vlad to the table.
Absent that, the only peace Putin is interested in is the total conquest of Ukraine.
Trump may grumble about Volodymyr Zelensky, but Ukraine’s president has been happy to negotiate; Putin’s the one who keeps saying nyet, even as he orders his forces to prepare for winter operations.
European leaders who met Monday with Zelensky say they’re going to up their aid to Kyiv and look to further squeeze Moscow; if they follow through, Trump can surely do the same.
American public support for Ukraine is growing: Over 60% of US adults back Kyiv’s defensive war against Russia and want to keep supplying weapons.
And Trump’s sanctions are biting hard: Moscow’s oil and gas income is down 27% over last year; Russian inflation is at 8% and interest rates are twice that.
Russian public support for the war Putin chose — and presented nearly four years ago as a fast walkover — is crumbling.
His refusal to even counter-offer Witkoff and Kushner suggests Putin still hopes for some dramatic breakthrough, but as it stands Russian forces are paying gallons of blood for every yard they advance.
Adding to his economic pain, perhaps through the long-discussed secondary sanctions, is the obvious next step for Washington.
Trump’s sincere desire for peace can’t end the carnage in Ukraine until Putin feels he has to end the war he started.
Until he’s forced to that decision, fiddling with the details of any peace plan is pointless.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
