Putin feels free to increase attacks on Ukraine without fear of consequences from Trump, Bloomberg reports
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has concluded that increasing attacks on Ukraine will improve his negotiating stance and will not push U.S. President Donald Trump to step in or provide additional defenses to Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on Sept. 20, citing unnamed sources "close to the Kremlin."
Putin reached this conclusion following his meeting with Trump in Alaska last month, where he came to believe that Trump has no interest in intervening in the conflict, the sources told Bloomberg. He intends to continue attacks on energy and other infrastructure, they added.
Russia has already significantly increased its drone and missile strikes across Ukraine this year, repeatedly breaking its records of civilian casualties and weapons launched.
Earlier this month, Ukraine's Air Force reported that Russia launched 810 Shahed-type drones during a single attack, making it the single largest launch of such weapons since the start of the full-scale invasion.
At the same time, a recent drone incursion into Poland marked the Kremlin's boldest move into NATO territory yet, and spurred Poland to request an emergency NATO consultations.
The event was quickly followed by a violation of Estonian airspace overnight on Sept. 19, which led Estonia to also request emergency NATO consultations.
Since his inauguration, Trump has made sporadic attempts to mediate peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, which have failed to make meaningful progress.
An attempt by Trump last month to arrange a meeting between Putin and Zelensky fell through, after Putin said that the meeting should be held in Moscow.
On Sept. 18, Trump expressed frustration with Putin, saying, "He's really let me down," but did not announce any additional measures to pressure Putin towards the negotiation table.
Earlier in the month, he floated the idea of increasing sanctions on Russia, but only on the condition that all NATO member states stop buying Russian oil.
