Trump is planning to meet Vladimir Putin in Alaska this week, as soon as Friday. There are a number of factors that combined are likely to bring Russia's war in Ukraine to a close.
First, this $8 billion dollar aid package to Ukraine from the U.S. to Ukraine (in Sept 2024, before Trump was re-elected), including F-16's and missiles, that will give Ukraine air superiority and the capability to then launch ground offensives to push Russian troops out of Ukraine.And combined with that, Ukraine will separately be reveiving even more aid and F-16's from other NATO countries to Ukraine.
On top of that, Trump negotiated about 2 weeks ago with the head of Saudi Arabia, for the Saudis to increase oil production, which will dramatically lower the global price per barrel of oil. And since Russia's economy is almost entirely based on oil revenue, this will severely decrease the funding for Russia's war capability.
On top of that, Trump is pressuring India and other major purchasers of Russian oil with punishing sanctions on those countries if they continue to buy Russian oil.
I've seen multiple generals say for a year that if the global price of oil falls below $50 per barrel, it will shut down Russia's ability to continue its war in Ukraine. And after several attempts in recent months by Trump to treat Putin as an equal and let Russia voluntarily end the war in a way treated with prestige on the global stage, since Putin has rejected these offers and actually intensified his attacks on Ukraine, Trump is now playing hardball and forcing Putin to end the war.
FUN FACT : Up until a week ago the NATO countries purchased more Russian energy than they gave in aid to Ukraine. So on the net, they were actually funding Russian victory in Ukraine. As part of the trade bill Trump just signed with the EU last week, the EU countries will be buying much more U.S. oil and natural gas (cutting off what they used to buy till then from Russia), and the EU countries will also spend much more (between 2 to 5% of each nation's GNP) on NATO military defense, which will allow them to give much more aid to Ukraine's military defense.
