Marc Champion, Columnist

First Gaza, Now Ukraine? Trump Has to Stand Up to Putin

Easing sanctions won’t bring Russia’s president to the negotiating table. Only the knowledge he can’t win will force his hand.

January 20, 2025 at 5:00 AM UTC

By Marc Champion

Marc Champion is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Europe, Russia and the Middle East. He was previously Istanbul bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal.

Putting pressure.
Photographer: EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA/AFP

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A multi-nation survey published last week found a significant decline in the proportion of Ukrainians who believe they can beat Russia’s invasion. Small wonder. For Kyiv, 2024 was a nightmare, created in large part by a collapse of the early war’s winning formula: the matching of Ukrainian motivated manpower to sophisticated Western arsenals.

So does that mean Donald Trump — inaugurated as US President on Monday and fresh from his initial success in securing a Gaza ceasefire — will be pushing at an open door in Ukraine? Absolutely not, at least not on terms the Kremlin is currently willing to consider. That wouldn’t be a peace deal, which Ukrainians want, but capitulation, which they don’t.