Are Russia and Ukraine intentionally avoiding peace talks to extend the conflict?
Russia’s autocrat, Vladimir Putin, threw a tantrum after Ukraine successfully wiped out a third of Russia’s strategic air force — crippling one arm of his cherished nuclear triad. This devastating Ukrainian strike effectively neutralized a major threat, exposing the vulnerability of Russia’s supposed military might.
Putin’s goal isn’t peace — it’s annihilation. He’s not just prolonging the war; he’s determined to cut off all aid to Ukraine so he can drown the country in blood, unchallenged. Ukraine, in contrast, doesn’t seek to drag out the conflict — it wants peace, justice, and freedom from foreign occupation.
Yesterday, Putin reportedly spent 75 minutes on the phone with Donald Trump. During this call, he allegedly threatened “retaliation” — and, disturbingly, appeared to gain Trump’s tacit approval. Instead of denouncing Putin’s brutality, Trump echoed his talking points, effectively serving as the Kremlin’s mouthpiece. This marked Putin’s first indirect public statement since Ukraine decimated 40 Russian aircraft on June 1 — bombers that were fully fueled and poised to strike Ukrainian cities that very night.
Trump could’ve used that moment to urge Putin to stop targeting civilians. Instead, he offered a sympathetic ear to “his friend Vlad” and quickly rushed to deliver Putin’s message to the public.
Even more chilling is how Trump seems to justify Russia’s “retaliation” — as if Russia hadn’t started this war by invading Ukraine on February 24, 2022, with the very goal of wiping out Ukraine’s air capabilities.
After enduring daily air raids for nearly four years, Ukraine finally strikes back — targeting the bombers responsible for those attacks — and Putin dares to cry “terrorism.”
If this is Trump’s idea of “peace through strength,” one shudders to imagine what “war through weakness” would look like.
Putin’s objective is obvious: sever U.S. support for Ukraine and pressure Europe to abandon Kyiv as well. That’s why he backed Trump in the 2024 election — funneling billions into social media manipulation via his hybrid warfare apparatus.
Of course, Putin would love to flaunt receipts showing how much he invested to get Trump elected — it’s arguably his most successful foreign operation ever. But he knows that exposing it would sink Trump entirely — and for now, Trump remains useful, at least until the betrayal becomes public.
That moment may come sooner than Putin expects.
Putin believes Trump owes him everything. Trump, meanwhile, thinks he’s doing Putin a favor — treating him like a liability stuck in a losing war.
That’s the heart of the problem.
And as Trump grows increasingly erratic, a bitter fallout between the two strongmen seems not just possible — but inevitable.
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