Russia escalated attacks on civilian areas on Friday night, bombing residential neighborhoods with cluster munitions and using ballistic missiles to hit various parts of Ukraine’s industrial base. Unlike past attacks, though, these are far more consequential because of what President Donald Trump threatened a day prior.
The Trump administration’s Ambassador to Ukraine responded by noting that a follow-up strike was targeted at first responders in the Ukrainian city of Dobropillia. That was caught on video in a pretty harrowing scene.
Horrified to see that overnight attacks struck multiple parts of Ukraine – killing 11 and injuring 40 – including a double tap hitting first responders in Dobropillia. Recovery efforts are still underway. Civilians continue to bear the cost of this war. pic.twitter.com/3pOllPSC3K
— Ambassador Bridget A. Brink (@USAmbKyiv) March 8, 2025
🇷🇺#Russia dropped cluster ammuntion on #Dobropillya town
in eastern 🇺🇦#Ukraine
11 residents killed, 30+ wounded
among them a lot of children pic.twitter.com/cJJFVrOgFI— C4H10FO2P ☠️ (@markito0171) March 8, 2025
Why does this matter so much more than past escalations? Because Trump put out the following threat on Friday morning, saying that if Russia didn’t stop “pounding” Ukraine, he’d put “large scale” banking restrictions, sanctions and tariffs in place.
Trump just threatened Russia with “large-scale” sanctions and tariffs. pic.twitter.com/ajCvWAGrmh
— Zineb Riboua (@zriboua) March 7, 2025
Russian President Vladimir Putin has now spit in Trump’s face by not just maintaining his aggressive posture but increasing it in such a visible, brutal way that was obviously meant to signal to the world that he doesn’t believe the United States will act.
The paradigm has now shifted. It doesn’t matter if some people think a complete capitulation to Russia is necessary to stop the war. Those people aren’t in charge of American foreign policy. Donald Trump is, and he chose to put down this redline. Now, he has to follow through or risk our adversaries continuing to take advantage of us just as they did throughout the Biden administration.
Further, this provides an opportunity to put maximum pressure on Europe as well. Since this war began, our supposed NATO allies have continued to trade with Russia, including spending more money in 2024 on oil and gas from the nation than on financial aid sent to Ukraine. Trump himself slammed that reality on Monday.
SEE: Trump Blasts EU’s Hypocrisy – More Money to Russia Than Ukraine
The time for that to stop is now. We can not keep funding a war on both ends, with the United States providing hundreds of billions of dollars for the war effort on one side while the Europeans feed Putin’s war machine on the other, all while virtue-signaling on social media and for the cameras about how much they care about Ukraine.
Not only should he follow through on his threat and slam Russia with sanctions and tariffs (we still do about $4 billion a year in trade with the nation), but he should demand that Europe cut off all trade with Putin as well. If they won’t, then they can shut up about Ukraine forever because it’s clear they don’t actually mean anything they say. There is zero doubt Trump would be more than willing to pick up the slack regarding oil and natural gas imports to Europe, as well as other products.
I want the war to end as much as the next person, but if Russia doesn’t want it to end, then it should reap the whirlwind that Trump threatened. If Putin doesn’t suffer the consequences in the face of that threat, then Iran, China, Hamas, and others will act accordingly. I get that many on the right are hesitant to take a hard line because of the disasters of the past, but American strength has to be maintained. That doesn’t mean the direct use of the U.S. military, but it does mean that when Trump tells Russia to do something or else, the or else part of the equation has to be backed up.
Trump gave Putin a chance. I’d posit it was a more than fair one. Now, the Russian dictator needs to be reminded who’s in charge here.
