After the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas and the release of some Israeli hostages, U.S. President Donald Trump has turned his attention back to Russia’s war against Ukraine. As The Wall Street Journal reports, European officials hope the diplomatic success in the Middle East will push the White House to engage more actively on Ukraine.
Sources cited by the paper say the Middle East breakthrough was achieved through pressure on the parties involved. In Russia’s case, however, the room for such pressure is narrower because its nuclear arsenal remains a deterrent. Analysts therefore see a more likely scenario in which Trump tries to deal with Vladimir Putin directly.
Political analyst Georgy Chizhov told Novaya Gazeta Europe that after his diplomatic success, Trump wants to reinforce his image as a peacemaker but is facing an “idea deficit.” In his view, the U.S. president is using the threat of new sanctions and possible deliveries of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine as his main lever of pressure on the Kremlin.
U.S. affairs expert Alexandra Filippenko said that, at least publicly, Trump now appears closer to Ukraine and to a strategy of pressuring Moscow. At the same time, Chizhov argues that Trump’s visible rapprochement with Volodymyr Zelensky is primarily tactical rather than evidence of genuine support.
Zelensky is due to meet Trump in Washington on October 17. One of the key topics is expected to be the possible transfer of long-range Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv. According to the Financial Times, the United States could provide Ukraine with 20 to 50 such missiles, although experts say that alone would not decisively change the course of the war.
“Russia is afraid that the Americans might give us Tomahawks. That is a signal that exactly this kind of pressure may work for peace,” Zelensky said after recent phone calls with Trump.
According to Axios, the U.S. leader told the Ukrainian president he could demand that Putin resume serious peace talks, and if not, approve deliveries of the missiles. Sources stress that no final decision has yet been made.