Putin Escalates After Every Call With Trump To Get 'Presents', Expert Says

2025-07-04 03:08:14

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) This opinion was expressed in a comment to Ukrinform's correspondent in The Hague by Patrick Bolder, strategic analyst and defense expert at the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS) and a retired lieutenant colonel of the Royal Netherlands Air Force.

“Every Patriot missile not sent, every Sidewinder, every Hellfire, every Stinger not sent causes extra Ukrainian deaths, especially the way Putin escalates every time after he has talked to Trump, he gets presents,” Bolder said.

According to him, these“presents” usually take the form of sanctions relief or political backing.

“And even now, the latest telephone call yesterday between Trump and Putin. Putin didn't really get a present, but Trump didn't really say horrible things about Putin. He just said, well, I'm disappointed, and he (Putin – ed.) is not there for peace. But he didn't make any threat on increasing sanctions or sending weapons again to Ukraine. Trump is very weak and he is being played with by Putin,” Bolder added.

The expert also stressed that the only thing that can help Ukraine now is for European countries to supply their stockpiles of missiles like Patriots, Sidewinders, Stingers, etc.

“But unfortunately, there's not much left, I'm afraid, to send. And the point will be there when European nations also look at their stocks and say: 'May be this is about the bottom we can send, because we have to think of our own security again'. But in the end, it's the same decision, because Ukrainian security is also connected with European security,” Bolder said.

Read also: Zelensky outlines key topics discussed with Trump : frontline, air defense, peace deal

As previously reported by Ukrinform, President Volodymyr Zelensky called his recent conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump“important and fruitful,” with the key topics being the frontline situation, Russian airstrikes, the supply of air defense systems, and a future peace agreement.

Photo courtesy of Patrick Bolder

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