As President Donald Trump’s deadline to start imposing secondary sanctions on Russia expired Friday, Vladimir Putin was still looking to con his way out of a true ceasefire on his war on Ukraine.
Trump confirmed the two plan a face-to-face meeting Friday in Alaska that will delay any sanctions kick-in, even though the president has found his recent conversations with Putin to be pleasant enough — but pointless: That’s why he moved up the deadline in the first place.
Oh and Vlad is reportedly floating the idea of “an air truce,” though he hasn’t even publicly copped to the idea, which anyway would only put a halt to drone and missile attacks, assaults Moscow could easily restart at will, after using the pause to stock up in order to deliver truly crushing blows.
Sorry: Trump has demanded a full-fledged cease-fire, with serious peace talks to follow; half measures won’t do, let along rumors of them.
While Ukraine civilians would surely appreciate a break in being bombed, this fig leaf falls far too short: The Kremlin must stop all combat to get Trump to hold off on slamming buyers of Russian goods with punishing tariffs.
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky rightly wants an end to this war, but “an honest end” — i.e., one that leaves no open door for Russia to reinvade Ukraine and finish the job.
Putin, on the other hand, wants a phony “peace” that grants him gains he can’t get by fighting on now (such as full control of Luhansk, Donetsk and the rest of Ukraine’s east) and lets him come back for more whenever he likes.
Vlad will keep squirming his way out of agreeing to anything less, unless and until he has real reason to give.
It’s time to bring the full sanctions hammer down hard.
