Russia’s War in Ukraine

Understanding the conflict four years on.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly told Americans that he alone can end the war in Ukraine because he has a “very good relationship” with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a 28-point peace plan to make Moscow comply. Ahead of the pair’s April 2025 summit in Alaska, which occurred after Trump warned of unspecified “consequences” if Russia didn’t halt its attacks on Ukraine, Russia’s most popular talk-show host devoted an entire segment of his show to reminding viewers what Russia thinks of Trump’s threats. “We can destroy all of them with nuclear weapons,” Vladimir Solovyov said on air. “Let them think about this during our commercial break.” This isn’t fringe rhetoric; it’s primetime messaging on Russia-1, the flagship state TV channel. These and other segments have been preserved and documented by U.S. journalist Julia Davis for anyone who cares to look.

Trump is objectively the most popular foreign public figure in Russia, second only to Putin in raw media mentions. But it is not for the reasons the White House would prefer. Russian TV routinely features jokes about how Trump can be manipulated into doing things that clearly damage U.S. interests. On-air banter mocks his “psychological deadlines” for Russia to accept a cease-fire as meaningless. Television hosts and studio guests don’t conceal their satisfaction with the current U.S. administration, not just because it includes people like U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard—whom Russian television has called “our girlfriend” for her frequently Kremlin-aligned views—but also because they see the United States’ geopolitical self-immolation as a boon that Moscow could never have engineered on its own. To Russians, Trump is the face—and often the punchline—of that process.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly told Americans that he alone can end the war in Ukraine because he has a “very good relationship” with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a 28-point peace plan to make Moscow comply. Ahead of the pair’s April 2025 summit in Alaska, which occurred after Trump warned of unspecified “consequences” if Russia didn’t halt its attacks on Ukraine, Russia’s most popular talk-show host devoted an entire segment of his show to........

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