Trump should tell Putin there will be 'all hell to pay' if he doesn't get out of Ukraine

It worked to secure an Israeli-Gaza cease-fire and freedom for 3 hostages so far.

The cover of the Aug. 1, 2016, edition of the Kyiv Post features Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

BY BRIAN BONNER

While it would be the morally right thing to do and say, I doubt that Donald J. Trump’s inauguration speech today will feature any harsh rhetoric for the instigator of Russia’s war on Ukraine. If not a fan of Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin, Trump is highly deferential to the Russian president and uses decorous language — respect that the typically crude Trump shows to few other people.

Talking tough to Hamas, which still holds nearly 100 hostages from its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, is different than talking tough to the man who controls the second-largest arsenal of nuclear weapons in the world. But let’s face it: both Hamas and Putin’s Kremlin are terrorist organizations. Putin is also an indicted war criminal for his conduct in his three-year-long attempt to destroy Ukraine. Trump has let it be known that he seeks a quick end to the war and will be talking to Putin soon.

While Trump did not sell out Ukraine in his first term of office, from 2017-2020, contrary to many fears, including those of the Kyiv Post I led back then. But he also was no friend of Ukraine, nor did he take the decisive steps required to push Russia out of the eastern Donbas and Crimea, which Kremlin forces have occupied since 2014. On the other hand, he has a point in saying that, because of weak deterrence, Russia invaded Ukraine for the first time 11 years ago under President Barack Obama and then expanded the invasion under President Joe Biden three years ago.

Here’s a Kyiv Post classic front page from the Aug. 1, 2016 edition, a conclusion based on Trump’s hostile remarks about Ukraine:

The PDF version can be read here.