Putin Secures Yet Another Delay - Congress and Europe Must Act To Impose Costs On Russia And Fund Ukraine Without Further Delays.

Another Trump–Putin Call Ends in Predictable Deadlock

• Another round of talks between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin has concluded—only to result, yet again, in vague promises of more talks in the future.

• As discussed extensively over the past weekend, this outcome was entirely predictable and unsurprising.

• Putin has no real incentive to agree to a ceasefire at this stage.

• His strategy remains unchanged: delay negotiations until Russia achieves tangible advantages on the battlefield, and only then consider talks—once he believes any further military gains would come at too high a cost.

• That threshold hasn’t been reached yet, and so he continues to stall.

• After a two-hour call with Putin (one that at least came after a prior conversation with President Zelensky) Trump posted that the “tone was great” and that both sides would begin negotiating a ceasefire “immediately.”

• But what does that even mean?

• How is this any different from Friday’s Istanbul talks?

• Or from last week’s diplomatic theatrics?

• Once again, Trump has merely agreed to “talk about talks.”

• That’s it.

• Is it really that hard to see what’s happening here?

• Nothing of substance was achieved during this phone call.

• There was no agreement for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire.

• Not even a 15-day ceasefire.

• So what exactly was gained?

• Why didn’t Putin agree to one?

• He has done so before, briefly—for symbolic reasons, like over the energy infrastructure corridor or when he offered a 3-day ceasefire during the Kremlin’s WWII victory parade.

• If he can pause for 3 days, he can do so for 30.

• So why not now?

• Simple: because it’s not in his interest.

• Trump keeps acting as if Putin sincerely wants to end the war.

• But Putin doesn’t want peace—he wants to win.

• Those are fundamentally different goals.

• He wants to maximize his gains, his glory.

• And if those gains can be made through military means, he will pursue them.

• Only when he becomes convinced that further success is impossible on the battlefield will he agree to real negotiations.

• That moment hasn’t come.

• There is nothing right now to convince him that future gains are out of reach. Why?

• Because Ukraine is still waiting on decisive new funding.

• Trump isn’t selling new major weapons to Ukraine—let alone giving them.

• Why not even sell additional serious weapons, when Ukraine is willing to pay for Patriot systems and advanced missiles?

• Why is Trump refusing to approve weapons sales to Europe and Ukraine?

• Why not double down on arms sales?

• Isn’t he all about business?

• Why not use American defense exports as leverage—both economically and strategically—to arm Ukraine, impose real costs on Putin, and force him to rethink his position?

• An unconditional ceasefire today would benefit Ukraine by giving it a chance to regroup and fortify, making future Russian advances more difficult.

• So from Putin’s perspective, it’s entirely logical to resist it.

• Once again, he walks away from the call with nothing conceded, and the West walks away with vague notions of “future talks.”

• Putin didn’t even signal any readiness to drop his absurd demands—like international recognition of occupied Ukrainian territories.

• If Russia continues to cling to these delusional goals, what’s the point of further negotiations? What we have now is a familiar pattern:

• A) The U.S. and Europe still aren’t imposing significant additional costs on Putin.

• B) Putin maintains his maximalist war aims without consequence.

• C) There is no ceasefire in place while Russian troops, even at great cost, continue making gains.

• This is an ideal situation for Putin: he delays compromise, keeps pushing militarily, and manipulates Trump’s illusions of a breakthrough—all while avoiding serious consequences.

• Whether Trump genuinely believes in Putin’s “peaceful” intentions or not is irrelevant at this point.

• Other actors must now step in.

• The U.S. Congress and the EU must act to fill the strategic vacuum.

• Congress should pass a Ukraine-specific Lend-Lease Act and unlock funding mechanisms to facilitate arms sales to Ukraine.

• There is enough bipartisan interest—particularly within the GOP—to ensure Putin is not allowed to succeed.

• The same goes for Europe.

• Why is the new German Chancellor Merz still withholding Taurus missiles?

• Why are Macron, Merz, and even Keir Starmer sitting on their hands, waiting for Trump to act?

• Why not increase their leverage now—before the Russia is able to secure more gains on the battlefield?

• This is not an impossible task.

• Europe has plenty of tools at its disposal to increase the cost of war for Russia—financial, technological, and military.

• Without such pressure, all we’ll see are more photo-ops, more promises of talks, and no results.

• If the goal is a ceasefire, this current approach won’t achieve it.

• In the meantime, Ukraine can play along—publicly endorsing Trump’s misguided belief that Putin wants peace.

• But that façade only works if Ukraine is armed to the teeth.

• So long as weapons continue flowing, Ukraine can keep fighting, even while pretending to negotiate with a party that has zero interests in it.

• That’s the only way this diplomatic theater can serve a real purpose.

• But right now, Ukraine is denied even that basic strategic option.

• Trump refuses to impose costs, Congress remains passive, and Europe follows his lead like a shadow.

• And so the war continues—with no ceasefire, no peace, and no meaningful shift in the strategic calculus for Putin.

• To be clear, Ukraine has drastically improved its odds on the battlefield.

• For example, according to the WSJ “the value of weapons Ukraine's defense industry can make has ballooned from $1 billion in 2022 to $35 billion over three years of war… Last year Ukraine said it produced more artillery guns than all NATO countries combined…More than 40% of the weapons used on the front line with Russia are now made in Ukraine” and in “some areas, such as drones, unmanned ground systems, and electronic warfare, the figure is close to 100%,”

• But Russia is expanding its production too - in terms of manpower, Ukraine’s casualties are approximately 2/3rds of Russia’s.

• With no additional external support, the trajectory is unfavorable for Ukraine: Russia’s slow, high-casualty/high cost advance will continue.

• It is therefore urgent for all important stakeholders to double-down on helping Ukraine.

• Let’s now unpack how Europe (without waiting for Trump) can provide a major boost to Ukraine by unlocking tens of billions in extra funding for Kyiv.

Europe Can Fund Ukraine Enough To Retake The Initiative On The Battlefield

• Europe must demonstrate not just rhetorical commitment but real action—action that will not only prevent further Russian advances but also enable Ukraine to regain lost territory as negotiations with Russia begin to take shape.