Nearly six months after his inauguration, when President Trump pledged he would measure his success by “the wars we end” and “the wars we never get into,” he is adopting an approach toward Russia that on the surface looks much like his predecessor’s: arming the Ukrainians to fight off an invasion.
Mr. Trump came to this point in a circular fashion, and if these past few months are any indication, there is reason to doubt he will stick with it.
A first test may come on Monday and Tuesday, when Mr. Trump meets at the White House with the secretary general of NATO, Mark Rutte, and is expected to formally announce
new plans
to route American arms to Kyiv through European allies. He also appears to be moving to embrace new sanctions European leaders are
pushing
to put more pressure on President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
The president is a late and very reluctant convert to the approach of trying to confront and isolate Mr. Putin.
During last year’s presidential campaign, Mr. Trump vowed a quick resolution of the war because he said he alone had the stature to deal with the Russian leader. Once he took office, he blamed the Ukrainians themselves for Russia’s invasion of their own country. Then he clashed with President Volodymyr Zelensky in an extraordinary Oval Office display, telling him, “You don’t have the cards.” He gave Russia a pass on tariffs and praised Mr. Putin for his strength, and
provided assurance
that Ukraine would never join NATO.
Much of that is seemingly reversed, at least for now.
The president said last week he was “very strongly” considering
backing
a bipartisan Senate bill that would impose a new sanctions bill that would allow — but not require — Mr. Trump to impose 500 percent tariffs on any country purchasing Russian oil or gas.
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