By Matthew Luxmoore

KYIV, Ukraine -- For months, Russia has courted President Trump, deploying flattery, promises of economic cooperation and protestations of its desire for peace in an effort to splinter Western support for Ukraine -- all while intensifying its assault on its smaller neighbor.

The approach appears to be faltering. Trump, critical of continued Russian airstrikes, says he plans to resume arms shipments to Kyiv. He is considering sending an additional Patriot air-defense system to Ukraine, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is confronted with a stark choice: Should he press his advantage on the battlefield and risk a bigger U.S. response or retreat from his maximalist positions?

On Tuesday, Trump gave one of his clearest indications yet that his relationship with Putin was deteriorating. "We get a lot of bulls -- thrown at us by Putin," he said during a cabinet meeting, adding that the Russian leader was "nice" but a lot of what he said turned out to be meaningless.

In recent weeks, Russia has stepped up aerial assaults on Ukrainian cities and increased its efforts to seize more territory in the country's east. The aim of the twin attacks is to undermine morale among Ukrainians while stretching the country's outnumbered forces thin along the front lines.

Trump, who has pledged to end the war and pushed Kyiv and Moscow to start peace negotiations, has reacted with growing displeasure. He said Monday that the U.S. would supply arms to help Ukraine withstand the Russian attacks.

"We have to, they have to be able to defend themselves," he said.

On Tuesday, the Kremlin signaled a desire to keep the door open with Washington, saying that it was clarifying what weapons the U.S. was providing to Ukraine and stressing that it appreciated Trump's efforts to broker peace.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov sought to distinguish between the U.S. and Europe. "It is obvious that the Europeans are also actively participating in pumping Ukraine with weapons," he said. "These actions are most likely not in line with attempts to promote a peaceful settlement."

But there were also calls in Moscow to forget about Washington and double down on the war effort.

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's hawkish former president and now deputy head of its National Security Council, pointed to a position held by Putin since before Trump's inauguration: That without a peace agreement giving Moscow what it wants, Russia will continue fighting.

"The hawks in Putin's entourage are trying to press their point: You can't rely on Americans," said Abbas Gallyamov, a former Kremlin speechwriter who is now a Kremlin critic living abroad. "Even if they are pretending to be a certain way, they will ultimately deceive you."

Russia has so far stuck to a hard line in negotiations, saying that any resolution to the war must address its "root causes," referring to Moscow's desire to demilitarize Ukraine and reassert its dominance over its politics.

Putin initially saw Trump as someone he could work with on achieving those goals through diplomacy, analysts say. Even before the U.S. president was re-elected in November, Putin launched a charm offensive. He echoed Trump's false statements about the 2020 election and praised his response to the attempt on his life last July.

Such efforts, paired with Trump's willingness to engage with Moscow, appeared to pay dividends initially. The U.S. held its first high-level talks with Russia in Saudi Arabia in February, and Moscow sent officials to Washington to tout potential cooperation between the two countries in energy, critical minerals and space exploration.

When Putin gifted Trump a portrait of the U.S. president in March, Trump administration special envoy Steve Witkoff said Trump was "clearly touched by it."

Meanwhile, however, Putin's position on Ukraine didn't budge. Peace talks have made little progress, and a succession of phone calls between Putin and Trump didn't yield any breakthroughs.

In recent weeks, Trump's tone on Russia has shifted. When Putin offered to assist with mediation over the conflict between Israel and Iran, Trump brushed the offer aside: "I said, 'Do me a favor, mediate your own. Let's mediate Russia first, OK?'"

A call last week between the two leaders appeared to strengthen Trump's conviction that Putin had no intention of ending the war. According to the Kremlin, Putin told Trump that Moscow was committed to its goals in Ukraine and it preferred to achieve them through diplomacy. But as long as that wasn't possible, Russia would continue the war.

Trump later expressed his disappointment. "I don't think he's there," he said of Putin. "I'm just saying, I don't think he's looking to stop, and that's too bad."

While Trump's tone on Putin has shifted substantially in recent days, he hasn't signaled how far he is willing to go in backing Ukraine. On Tuesday, he wouldn't say how he intended to respond to Putin. "I wouldn't be telling you," he said to the press.

Despite the apparent setbacks with the U.S., Russia isn't giving up on its aims. Far from it, Moscow is likely now settling in for a long war, analysts say.

Putin, who has a quarter-century of experience dealing with American presidents, knows that Trump has a tendency to change his views, said Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. Today, Trump might be praising Ukraine's resolve and pledging more aid to the embattled nation, but soon, he could once again endorse Putin's narrative.

"Trump is now inclined toward Ukraine, but what will be in two weeks time, no one knows," she said. "Russia hasn't changed its position since the very beginning of the war. So why would it change now?"

Write to Matthew Luxmoore at matthew.luxmoore@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 08, 2025 23:00 ET (03:00 GMT)

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