Big turnaround?

"This is the US president's favorite tool. Pressure is growing on him in the Senate as conservative Republicans struggle to explain Trump's romance with Putin to their voters. Sanctions are important, but weapons will decide the war," Austrian military analyst Gustav Gressel told Pravda in response to Trump's Monday statement about a tougher approach to Russia.

And Ukraine should also receive weapons from the US. The scheme is supposed to be simple: Europe will buy them from Washington and send them to Kiev. The US President officially announced it at the White House in the presence of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

"However, this will also take some time. If I remember correctly the saga with the F-16 fighters, obtaining the necessary permits to export these aircraft to Ukraine took quite a long time. This was despite the fact that the machines were supplied by European allies and there was already political approval for this step. The American bureaucracy is neither fast nor flexible," Gressel recalled.

Despite Trump giving Putin another 50 days and Europe paying for his anger at the Kremlin leader through arms purchases, it is a major turnaround for the Republican. Since taking office, he has done absolutely nothing for Ukraine. He has not sent any new weapons to Kiev and has not imposed any new sanctions on Moscow. And his phone calls with Putin have always been, as he said, wonderful.

However, the only result of the negotiations with the Kremlin was that Russia bombed Ukraine more intensively, which even Trump must have understood at some point.

"I'm disappointed in him, but I'm not done with him yet. But I'm disappointed in him. We have a great conversation. I'll say it's good, I think we're close to a deal. And then he blows up a building in Kiev," Trump described his discussions with Putin in a telephone interview with the BBC.

In addition to his remarks on Ukraine, the populist US president has also made a political pirouette on the issue of NATO. Trump told the BBC that he no longer believes the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is obsolete. He also supported collective defense because it means smaller countries can defend themselves against larger ones. He praised NATO for the fact that its members are reportedly paying their bills. In June, the alliance agreed to increase defense budgets to five percent of gross domestic product.

How long will Trump last with this approach? According to people who have worked with him, he has considered withdrawing from NATO in the past and recently blamed Ukraine for starting the war.

"In any case, this is an important moment for us. For the first time since his return to the White House, President Trump has stated that he will send more weapons to Ukraine. This is not just a continuation of the supplies approved by the previous US administration. We must absolutely seize this opportunity. The most important thing will be to find out whether this will be a one-time thing. That is, whether it is just a tactical, short-term development, or are we talking about a new trend and a change in strategic approach. As for weapons, Ukraine, as always, needs a lot of them, but we are mainly talking about air defense systems - mainly Patriots and medium- and long-range missiles," Volodymyr Dubovyk, an expert on international relations from the Odessa National University named after I. I. Mechnikov, told Pravda.

It is really too early to say whether Trump has really made a strategic turn. So far, he has only offered Ukraine things that suit his business spirit. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said that his country wants to play a decisive role in the arms purchase plan. However, it may be that other EU and NATO countries will be more hesitant. They should invest in American military systems at a time when there is a debate about European strategic autonomy and the US president is threatening the European Union with 30 percent tariffs from August 1.

Actions will be decisive

"Let's not take Trump's decision to sell weapons to NATO countries for Ukraine as a sign that the president already understands the situation. From his perspective, this is a business transaction, not an effort to strengthen US security. He does not believe that America's security is connected to the security of Europe or Ukraine. And he is wrong about that," Ivo Daalder, a former US ambassador to NATO, commented on Trump's actions on the Bluesky social network.

The introduction of the aforementioned 100 percent secondary tariffs after 50 days also remains a question."They should focus mainly on the trade relations between Russia and China, which have developed over the past three years. Perhaps the most important area of trade is the use of Chinese electronics in Russian drones. Chinese engineers are helping Russia develop more efficient and mass production processes for unmanned vehicles," retired Australian Major General Mick Ryan wrote in an analysis on the Substack platform.

But the relationship with Beijing is also important to Trump. The president has already imposed tariffs of varying levels on China, then backed down and finally announced that the two largest economies had reached an agreement. Trump announced in June that the US would impose tariffs of 55 percent on Chinese goods. Chinese tariffs on American goods will be 10 percent.

Would Trump now engage in another tariff battle with Beijing over Ukraine?"We've had a really good relationship with China lately and we get along very well with them. Frankly, they've been very fair in our trade deal," Trump said during a cabinet meeting on July 8.

"I would like to believe that the statements of the American president represent a shift in policy towards supporting Ukraine and its defense. But I'm not sure we can say that yet. Words are cheap. Actions are what really matter," Ryan stressed.