Trump should pressure Russia, not Ukraine, on energy prices

President Donald Trump is understandably concerned that rising gas prices are harming American households and weakening the Republican Party’s prospects in the November congressional midterm elections. The war with Iran and escalating skirmishes between Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni Houthis are the main causes of instability in energy markets. But the war in Ukraine also intensifies price pressures at the pump.Still, Trump should recognize that Russia, not Ukraine, is to blame for this. He has wrongly suggested the opposite in recent days and put pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to stop attacking Russian energy infrastructure. This approach penalizes the victim rather than the aggressor. It also fails to acknowledge Ukraine’s openness to a just compromise.Responding to an X post from Trump on Monday, Zelensky noted that he might suspend strikes on Russian energy infrastructure on the understanding that “Ukraine’s energy sector, critical infrastructure, and our food exports must stop being targets for Russia…” This is common sense and wholly reasonable, even accommodating. Ukraine has repeatedly offered de-escalation measures, including a suspension of strikes on energy targets. Russia has refused to reciprocate each time. With winter approaching and Ukraine’s ballistic missile interceptor stocks running low, Russian President Vladimir Putin is standing firm in his efforts to destroy Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. The Russian tyrant hopes that by freezing enough civilians to death, those Ukrainians left alive will demand peace at any cost from Zelensky.Ukraine must keep targeting Russia’s energy infrastructure, which hampers Russia’s ability to supply its war machine and makes Putin pay the domestic costs of war.Suffering from energy shortages, sustained inflation, and a decrepit economy, Russians are slowly growing more skeptical of the Kremlin’s claim that the war is well in hand. More than four and a half years into the conflict, this is a real concern for Putin. His decision to ban Russia’s only anti-war political party from standing in last weekend’s parliamentary elections is a sign of that. That party had little support, but Putin was unwilling to risk its becoming a vehicle for public protest against the war.Trump must be clearer-eyed about the war. It began not because Russia needed to defend itself against NATO encroachment, but because Putin wanted Ukraine to be subsumed into the Russian empire. He made this clear in an essay six months before the war began.Until Putin gets serious about compromising for peace, Zelensky has the right and the responsibility to keep hitting Russia where it hurts. The energy industry is the linchpin of Russia’s economy. Absent Russian reciprocity in suspending infrastructure attacks, Trump’s cajoling of Ukraine only undermines a sovereign democracy’s defense. That is antithetical to American values and, considering Russia’s broader hostility toward the United States and its allies, American security.Trump should push for a truly balanced ceasefire. The president should demand that Ukraine and Russia agree at once to suspend attacks on civilians. He should recognize that Putin has employed a mix of rhetoric and deflection to steer Trump away from holding him accountable for his broken promises.EDITORIAL: PUTIN TESTS TRUMP’S HOPES FOR A RUSSIA RESETTrump should make clear that unless Putin agrees to verifiable de-escalation, he will use a new law passed by Congress to impose 100% tariffs on nations that buy Russian energy supplies. Alongside sanctions on countries such as Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates, which act as bypass routes for Russia, and on Russia’s banking infrastructure, Trump can dramatically tighten the economic squeeze.Putin is a realist. Facing continued economic disintegration at home and the failure of Russian forces to break through Ukrainian lines, he can be made to see a diplomatic resolution to his war as preferable to the risks of political instability at home. Russian history is no friend to flailing leaders.