Wall Street Journal Rips Trump Admin For Giving ‘Another Signal to Mr. Putin to Continue The War’

The Wall Street Journal editorial board tore into the Trump administration for displaying “weakness” in its approach to Russia’s Vladimir Putin and ending the war in Ukraine with a blistering takedown this week.

The Journal summed up reports from the week that Trump is “denying Ukraine much-needed weapons.” The editorial cited some of the paper’s own reporting as well:

Our sources tell us they include Patriot air-defense missiles, Hellfire missiles, some 8,500 Howitzer rounds and other ammunition. Some were already in Poland awaiting delivery. So this is a conscious decision to deny Kyiv weapons it was counting on before Russia’s summer assaults. It’s a hostile act that favors Vladimir Putin.

The Journal links the decision to controversial Pentagon appointee Elbridge Colby, whose “chief patron in the White House is Vice President JD Vance and his outside cheerleader is Tucker Carlson.” The editorial also shot down the notion that the arms were being withheld because the U.S. was running low on key ordnances.

“But one clue about the real motive here is that the U.S. is withholding guided rockets that aren’t in such short supply. With Iran weakened militarily, there isn’t a more urgent need for more Patriots anywhere else in the world than in Ukraine. And if the cupboard is truly so depleted that America can’t support a friend in a hot war with a U.S. adversary, then that is a bigger national emergency,” argued the editorial board.

The scathing argument ends by noting that Putin has repeatedly managed to string Trump along with broken promises of ceasefires and a false willingness to negotiate to end the war – which are followed up with massive attacks by Russian missiles on Ukrainian cities.

“Mr. Trump says he wants to end the war to save lives, but denying arms to Ukraine will mean more death and a longer war. Ukraine will have to make more brutal choices between protecting troops or the cities Mr. Putin is targeting to break Ukraine’s will to fight,” warns the Journal, concluding:

The latest arms decision against Ukraine looks like another signal to Mr. Putin to continue the war. And why not? He can keep banking territorial gains while Mr. Trump keeps begging the dictator, pretty please, for a truce.

Read the full editorial here.