A rare rebuke from the US president has rattled Moscow, but it remains to be seen if it’s a true change of heart or just political theatre

Roland Oliphant Senior Foreign Correspondent

26 April 2025

Is Donald Trump finally turning on Vladimir Putin? After attending the Pope’s funeral on Saturday, he posted on Truth Social, his own platform, suggesting as much.

“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” he wrote.

“It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”

First, the caveats: this is a social media post – not a policy announcement. In love and war (and much else besides), words are cheap. So believe in those secondary sanctions – which would penalise countries dealing with Russia and so have the power to cripple the Russian economy – only when you see them.

It’s worth noting that the two sentences sparking so much controversy appeared at the end of a much longer rant – one in which Trump attacked the “failing New York Times” – blamed former presidents Obama and Biden for the war – and declared it “a loser from day one.” Those are more familiar themes and suggest stubborn continuity rather than a u-turn.

Second, we do not know what has been said in private – either between Mr Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky in Rome, or between US envoy Steve Witkoff and Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday.

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Nonetheless, the language is notable. Mr Trump has been consistently reluctant to criticise Mr Putin, and in his quest for a peace deal made far more demands for concessions from the Ukrainians than from the Russians.

So why the change in tone?

Possibly Mr Witkoff returned from Moscow frustrated, and reported as such to his boss. Perhaps Marco Rubio, his secretary of state and historically a more orthodox foreign policy Republican, has had a word. Perhaps Mr Trump’s man-to-man talk with President Zelensky in the marbled nave of St Peter’s Basilica left him convinced it was time to change course – with a little help, too, from Keir Starmerand Emmanuel Macron.

Or maybe he has heard from more natural allies.

Chief among them is Boris Johnson, who since leaving Downing Street has remained a staunch champion of both the Ukrainian cause and Mr Trump – brushing aside the concerns of those uneasy about the US president’s soft line on Putin. This week Mr Johnson has made clear that the seven-point draft agreement presented by the Americans last week was unacceptable. He today has publicly called for Mr Trump to “get tough” with Mr Putin and insisted that secondary sanctions “really bite”.

Such a message might be easier to hear from a fellow conservative populist than from a European centrist – and Johnson hints that taking this route could win Mr Trump fulsome backing from Europe. Or perhaps Mr Trump is simply fed up. For weeks, Russia has danced around his ceasefire proposals – its excuses about smoothing out “nuances” and “evaluating” ideas wearing increasingly thin – while several large air attacks on Ukrainian cities have embarrassed the White House.

The mass raid on Kyiv last week, which killed 12, prompted Mr Trump to demand on Truth Social: “Vladimir, STOP.” Whatever the cause, this change in rhetoric ought to concern Kremlin strategists. The firebrands in Russia’s parliament and state media have hailed Mr Trump for his hostility towards Nato and aid to Ukraine – but more measured officials have long recognised the dangers of courting him.

Yes, his instinctive sympathy for Mr Putin could still be leveraged to the Kremlin’s advantage – but, as the “failing New York Times” can testify, he is also a man who can hold a grudge. If he ever sensed that Russia was cheating him, some have muttered, he might yet throw America’s full weight behind Ukraine – and with redoubled energy. That would mean Russia squandering its best chance to force a favourable outcome to the war, especially given it cannot count on the next US president being half as sympathetic.

We are not at that point yet, however.

If Mr Trump really wanted to pressure Mr Putin, he could just sign banking and secondary sanctions into law – and stop musing about it on social media. Is this a real threat directed at Mr Putin, or is it a gesture meant to assuage Mr Zelensky and his European allies?

Mr Trump’s actions – not his social media posts – will be the test of that.

……………….

• Telegraph View

Trump may have seen Putin as he really is

The Russian leader should not be given the breathing space to further influence Washington

Credit: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service

Telegraph View

26 April 2025

At long last, Donald Trump may be waking up to Vladimir Putin’s true nature. Following a one-to-one conversation with Volodymyr Zelensky at the Vatican before the funeral of Pope Francis, the US president took to Truth Social to berate the Russian leader’s unwillingness to negotiate in good faith, and to threaten further measures against the Russian economy.

In a lengthy diatribe, Mr Trump stated that “there was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days. It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions’?”

Having spent recent days bemoaning Mr Zelensky’s perceived unwillingness to make concessions, Mr Trump appears to be coming around to a belated realisation that Vladimir Putin cannot be relied upon as a good-faith negotiating partner.

Mr Zelensky – along with Sir Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron – will be justly pleased with the results of this diplomatic effort. The challenge now is to seize on it before the mercurial American president has a chance to change his mind. Vladimir Putin has already attempted to seize back the initiative, with the Kremlin stating that Russia is “ready to resume negotiations with Ukraine without any preconditions”, and declaring victory in the effort to oust the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk.

The Russian leader should not be given the breathing space to further influence Washington. Pressure should be kept up on Russia with the formulation of new sanctions packages, a stepping up of military aid to Kyiv, and a long-term commitment made to its security after any peace deal.

While Mr Trump is understandably keen to bring the bloodshed of the current conflict to an end, he should reflect on the point that any ceasefire which does not provide ironclad security guarantees to Ukraine will not provide the deterrence needed to keep Vladimir Putin from using a brief window of peace to rearm prior to a second offensive. We have already seen this pattern play out once in the aftermath of the 2014 war; there is no need to see it repeated.

Equally, there will be no just and lasting peace unless Kyiv is able to negotiate from a position of strength. Putin’s visible desperation to assert battlefield superiority only underlines this. It is imperative that military aid is provided at a scale and pace that provides the battlefield capability required to put Russia in a position of weakness.