International Press Review dated 28 July – 8 August 2025
- Anton Kuchuhidze
- Aug 7
- 5 min read
In recent weeks, leading Western media outlets have focused on three key topics: the growing economic pressure from the Trump administration on russia, large-scale arms deliveries to Ukraine, and a potential personal meeting between President Trump and putin.
In a publication by The Washington Post, the author expresses support for President Trump, emphasizing his consistency in fulfilling foreign policy promises. Examples include strengthening the U.S. southern border, eliminating ISIS, launching military strikes in Syria in response to the use of chemical weapons, and halting Iran’s nuclear program.
Given russian president vladimir putin's refusal to accept a peace negotiation proposal, the author argues that Trump is moving forward with his maximum pressure strategy: tightening sanctions against russia’s energy sector and providing Ukraine with unprecedented military aid, including modern HIMARS, ATACMS, Javelin systems, and other weaponry.
The article also emphasizes the need to launch a large-scale economic and military pressure campaign on moscow to force the kremlin to the negotiating table. Proposed funding sources for supporting Ukraine include frozen russian assets and direct credit mechanisms for arms purchases.
In conclusion, the author stresses that Trump has a unique opportunity to end the war on terms favorable to Ukraine and to lay the foundation for a long-term strategic defense partnership between Kyiv and Washington.
As reported by CNN, U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday warned that countries continuing to purchase russian energy resources may face serious consequences. This warning is part of a broader strategy of economic pressure on the kremlin.
In another Washington Post article, it is noted that during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, President Trump announced a new initiative: the sale of American weapons to NATO countries that will then transfer them to Ukraine. Under this mechanism, allies will supply Ukraine with weapons from their existing stockpiles and, in return, purchase new ones from U.S. inventories. The initial plan includes deliveries worth about $10 billion, with priority given to Patriot air defense systems and interceptor missiles. Germany has already agreed to fund three batteries and is in talks to expand its support. Six additional countries—Denmark, Sweden, Finland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Canada have expressed readiness to join.
According to The New York Times, President Trump plans to meet personally with president putin as early as next week, followed shortly by a trilateral summit involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The meetings are expected to take place without the participation of European leaders. If implemented, these plans would mark a new phase in diplomatic efforts to end the war.
Russia’s military-industrial complex needs to be better targeted. Entities such as Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear agency, and Roscosmos, its space agency, are not neutral civilian institutions, but strategic enablers of Putin’s war. Rosatom underpins nuclear weapons development and facilitates the occupation of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Roscosmos provides satellite imagery and communications that guide Russian missile strikes. Both agencies must be sanctioned in full and banned from cooperating with Western scientific and academic institutions.
The goal should be to force Putin to do what Trump has demanded from the very beginning — end the war at the negotiating table — by imposing such heavy economic and military costs on Russia that Putin has no choice but to sue for peace.
How to do that? Russia is in economic trouble as war spending has unleashed double-digit inflation, soaring interest rates and catastrophic labor shortages. The only things keeping the Russian economy afloat have been oil and gas sales, which skyrocketed under Biden. But under Trump, Russia’s oil and gas revenue has begun to collapse, falling 33.7 percent last month.
The first focus is on Patriot air defense batteries and interceptor missiles, which Kyiv has been scouting for to counter Russian ballistic missile attacks on the capital and other cities. Germany has offered to fund two batteries and is leading talks with countries volunteering to drum up money for more.
Germany’s new government has created more leeway by approving a huge spending plan that relaxes traditionally strict limits on federal debt. The plan could allow up to $1 trillion in defense and infrastructure spending over the next decade.
The European purchases, in two separate transactions coordinated by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, are expected to be the first of many funded by European governments and Canada following an agreement in principle earlier this summer.
Trump has balked at providing U.S. weapons directly to Ukraine, as the Biden administration did, but he has signaled openness to selling the embattled country American arms. Trump and his senior officials have also said that Europe should shoulder more of the burden of supporting Ukraine because it is closer to them, and the U.S. is focused on China and the Pacific.
Ukraine’s supporters will set up a new NATO holding account to allow allies to buy billions of dollars of U.S. weapons for Ukraine, part of President Trump’s latest scheme to arm Kyiv, according to three Western officials.
The creation of the new account marks the first tangible step in making Trump’s vow to have North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies pay for U.S. weapons for Ukraine a reality. Trump and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte announced the deal last month but didn’t provide details.
The Netherlands will contribute €500 million ($579 million) to Ukraine’s defense as part of a US initiative, making it the first NATO country to donate funds through the new program.
The funds will be given under the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, agreed by US President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in July. Under this program, NATO allies purchase military equipment from US reserves for Ukraine. The Netherlands is the first NATO ally to finance a full package, the country’s defense ministry said in a statement Monday.
Trump vows more secondary sanctions for Russia oil buyers are coming, including potentially on China
US President Donald Trump warned Wednesday that more punishment was coming for countries buying Russian energy products after slapping a 25% tariff on India that is supposed to go into effect Thursday.
“You’re going to see a lot more. So this is a taste,” he said in the Oval Office. “You’re going to see a lot more. You’re going to see so much secondary sanctions.”
The move is part of Trump’s high-stakes effort to cripple Russia’s economy over its war in Ukraine. He had set a Friday deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to make peace before imposing that economic punishment.
President Trump intends to meet in person with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as soon as next week, and he plans to follow up shortly afterward with a meeting between himself, Mr. Putin and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the plan.
Mr. Trump disclosed his plans on Wednesday in a call with European leaders, which included Mr. Zelensky, the people said. The meetings would include only the three men, and would not include European counterparts.
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