PUBLISHED on August 6, 2025, 16:21 PM EST – Key Points and Summary – With a Friday ceasefire deadline for the Ukraine war just two days away, President Trump is escalating his pressure campaign on Russia, believing a collapse in oil prices will force Putin’s hand.
-He has imposed a massive 50% total tariff on India as punishment for buying Russian energy.
-Simultaneously, Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, is in Moscow for last-minute talks with Vladimir Putin, where a potential “air truce” involving a pause on drone and missile strikes has been floated as a possible compromise.
-The outcome of this high-stakes standoff remains uncertain.
Trump Pushes India to Get to Russia?
President Donald Trump has promised new sanctions on Russia, in the form of “secondary tariffs” on Russia’s energy partners, including India, if Russia does not agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine. The deadline for such an agreement is this Friday, now only two days away, and there are few indications that Russia is going to capitulate in that time.
Trump laid out his theory of the case this week in a CNBC interview, claiming that collapsing oil prices will force Putin out of the war, in a way that no previous sanctions did.
“Putin will stop killing people if you get energy down another $10 a barrel. He’s going to have no choice because his economy stinks,” the president said this week in a phone interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Trump had come back into office promising to end the war in Ukraine, possibly as soon as his first day in office. That didn’t happen, and while Trump and Vice President JD Vance upbraided Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in February, essentially telling him in front of cameras that the war was lost, Vladimir Putin has not played along.
This has led to such once-unimaginable events as Trump publicly lambasting Putin, agreeing to the sale of more offensive weapons to Ukraine, and giving his Russian counterpart ultimatums.
Trump has even gotten into a war of words with Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president who now functions as a semi-official social media troll, which led last week to Trump sending nuclear submarines toward Russia.
A Shot at India
Ahead of the deadline, Trump has levied significant tariffs against one of the countries that partners with Russia on energy.
Trump, per CNN, has announced “sweeping and substantial tariffs on India,” combining the already-announced 25 percent tariff with an additional 25 percent, “that will go into effect later this month as punishment for importing Russian oil and gas.”
The White House posted a document to its website— again, the kind of thing that would have been almost unimaginable in Trump’s first term — titled “Addressing Threats to the United States by the government of the Russian Federation.”
The announcement builds on a pair of executive orders from the Biden years — again, normally the sort of thing that Trump is reversing, rather than expanding — related to Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
“I have received additional information from various senior officials on, among other things, the actions of the Government of the Russian Federation with respect to the situation in Ukraine,” the document says. “After considering this additional information, among other things, I find that the national emergency described in Executive Order 14066 continues and that the actions and policies of the Government of the Russian Federation continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”
The result, as laid out, is the new tariffs on India. And the order also includes threats against other countries that may import Russian oil.
“Useful” Talks
Meanwhile, Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow and met directly with Putin, per The BBC, which published a photograph of the meeting. Foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov described the talks as “constructive.”
Per Reuters, the meeting lasted around three hours.
Per Bloomberg News, one possible compromise has been floated.
“The Kremlin is weighing options for a concession to US President Donald Trump that could include an air truce with Ukraine to try to head off the threat of secondary sanctions, even as Russia remains determined to continue its war,” the Bloomberg story, published before the Wednesday meeting, said.
“Officials recognize that US envoy Steve Witkoff’s visit to Russia this week offers a late opportunity for agreement with Trump even if expectations for success are low, people familiar with the situation said, asking not to be identified discussing sensitive matters. A pause on air strikes involving drones and missiles as a deescalation gesture may be one potential proposal provided that Ukraine also signed up, one of them said.”
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
More Military
America Almost Had to Invade Japan
topol
August 7, 2025 at 6:16 am
America’s current leadership is B-R-E-W-D by who. By Who. By Asmodeus.
The 46th & 47th presidents are two big rogues. Yes, rogues.
What the hell’s a rogue.
A rogue is a dishonest, morally corrupt, untrustworthy, even useless human. A danger to nearby people.
Tens of thousands of have died in gaza and more die each day.
Who”s responsible. The rogues.
Russia is now furiously fighting the dreaded nazis in eastern Ukraine trying to eject them out of the Donbass.
Who’s responsible for that trouble. The two rogues.
But now, the 47th pres is budily pointing fingers outward blaming this person and that person, every person but himself.
Who the guy doing the heavy lifting and all the big hard background work behind the bloodshed in gaza and Ukraine. Who this guy. USA.
Now, India gets the wallop.
India needs to tell trump ‘GO TO HELL, ya pheecktard !’
Pingback: How the U.S.-India Relationship Went 'Dreadfully Wrong' - National Security Journal