Trump’s rhetoric has escalated, but Ukraine sees no real support – Rezazade

US President Donald Trump has sharply criticized the Kremlin for refusing to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine, saying that Putin is “playing with fire.” This outburst of anger marked the transition to Trump’s harshest rhetoric towards the Russian president during his entire new term.

But, as the first vice president of the Iranian opposition in Washington, international expert Ali Reza Rezazade, emphasizes, there is still no concrete action behind the loud statements.

“Trump is trying to balance between the desire to appear as a peacemaker and the reluctance to really put pressure on the Kremlin. The problem is that behind such political games is Ukraine, a country that pays with human lives every day,” Rezazade said.

According to the expert, Trump’s threats of sanctions look like a belated reaction to the escalation that the US itself allowed, evading new restrictions and not increasing military assistance to Ukraine. Trump admitted that he actually held back tough measures against the Russian Federation, and stated: “If it weren’t for me, something very bad would have happened to Russia by now.”

“This is political self-aggrandizement instead of systemic policy. He claims that he is holding the world back from a catastrophe, but at the same time he does not support the sanctions initiatives of Congress and is silent about further financing of Ukraine’s defense,” Rezazade noted.

At the same time, according to sources in the White House, the US State Department and the Treasury have already prepared new packages of sanctions, in particular against the energy and banking sectors of the Russian Federation. But their implementation depends solely on the personal will of the president.

“While all policy depends on Trump’s mood alone, stability is not worth expecting. Neither for Ukraine nor for its European allies. The Kremlin understands this perfectly well and continues its aggression,” the expert emphasized.

According to Ali Reza Rezazade, the current US administration must choose: either to continue military assistance to Ukraine, or, in fact, to allow Russia to win due to the depletion of Kyiv’s defense resources.

“The world is dealing with a dictatorship that understands only force. And if the US does not back up its statements with concrete actions, the war will continue — with new victims and even greater risks to global security,” Ali Reza Rezazade concluded.