America’s allies have resorted to practically begging Donald Trump to be harder on Russia.
During a joint press conference Thursday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pushed back against the U.S. president’s interpretation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, making plain how a strengthened American resolve could nip Russia’s recent incursions.
Trump first complained that Russian President Vladimir Putin “has let me down.”
“I mean he’s killing many people and he’s losing more people than he’s killing,” Trump said. “Frankly, Russian soldiers are being killed at a higher rate than the Ukrainian soldiers.
“But yeah, he’s let me down. It’s death. You know, it doesn’t affect the United States, we have—other than unless you end up in a world war over this thing, you could—this was a thing that would have never happened had I been president. And it didn’t happen for four years, most people agree, it didn’t happen. Nor was it close to happening,” Trump continued.
“I spoke to President Putin about Ukraine, it was the apple of his eye. I’ve said that many times, but he would have never done what he did, except that he didn’t respect the leadership of the United States,” Trump said.
“He, look—it doesn’t so much affect you, though you are a lot closer to the scene than we are,” Trump said, turning toward Starmer.
But Starmer couldn’t let the situation slip, instead spelling out—inches away from Trump—exactly why American opposition to Russia is so critical.
“We have to put extra pressure on Putin,” Starmer said, not facing the U.S. president. “It’s only when the president has put pressure on Putin that he’s actually shown any inclination to move.”
Starmer emphasized that Russia has only grown more bold in its invasion of Ukraine, referring to an incident in August when the Kyiv building hosting the British Council’s office was badly damaged by Russian bombs.
Trump has little to show for the profound international recognition he’s offered the Kremlin over the last few months. Against the advice of world leaders, Trump invited Putin to Alaska in August—tasking U.S. soldiers to literally roll out the red carpet for the Russian dictator. It was the first time that Putin had stepped foot on U.S. soil in more than a decade.
Still, Russia has not agreed to peace terms in its ongoing war against Ukraine. The superpower has instead insisted on receiving “international legal recognition” of its 2014 annexation of Crimea, an internationally recognized portion of Ukraine, along with four regions it has claimed in the three years since it first invaded Ukraine.
And Trump has continued to play it soft with the Kremlin. The U.S. leader offered a remarkably blasé comment regarding the breach of Russian drones into Polish airspace earlier this month, writing on Truth Social: “What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!” Trump further suggested that the attack—which forced the Eastern European nation to shut down four of its airports as it scrambled to fire up its defense systems—“could have been a mistake.”
Russia took note of the absent pushback. Rather than de-escalate the situation, Russia decided to stoke more fear, tossing threats at Finland if it dared to oppose their power.
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