"All Options are on the Table"

Firefighters work at the site of car garages hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the city of Bila Tserkva, Kyiv region, Ukraine, in this handout picture released September 2, 2025. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. DO NOT OBSCURE LOGO. BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE.

It’s crunch time. 

This is the week in which President Trump has said Russia needs to make strides towards peace in Ukraine. So far, the administration is none too impressed.

"I have learned things that will be very interesting, I think in the next few days you'll find out,” President Trump said vaguely today. 

In an interview with Fox News, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said: “President Putin, since the historic meeting in Anchorage, since the phone call, when the European leaders and President Zelenskyy were at the White House the following Monday, has done the opposite of following through on what he indicated he wanted to do – as a matter of fact, he has in a despicable, despicable manner increased the bombing campaign.”  

Bessent would go on to add, “I think with President Trump, all options are on the table, and I think we’ll be examining those very closely this week.”

Monday, the president called out India by name once again, writing on Truth Social: “India buys most of its oil and military products from Russia, very little from the U.S. They have now offered to cut their Tariffs to nothing, but it’s getting late. They should have done so years ago.”

Additional tariffs on India, a major purchaser of Russian oil, were issued last month. So-called “secondary tariffs” on Russian trade partners are an option the White House has said it is keeping in its back pocket. 

As we wait for a possible move from the White House, where is Russian President Vladimir Putin? China. Rubbing elbows with the leadership there, as well as India and North Korea, this week. It’s a security forum, and later a military parade, where the leaders appear to be coalescing power and aligning interests to counter the West.

"We must continue to take a clear stand against hegemonism and power politics, and practice true multilateralism," President Xi of China said. 

The Russian president, in recent days, has said the summit in Alaska has led to mutual “understandings” between the Kremlin and White House on the situation in Ukraine and today even acknowledged that European Union membership for Ukraine is something Russia is fine with. Ukraine’s ambitions to join NATO, on the other hand, remain a hardline “no.”

"As for Ukraine's EU membership, we have never objected to this,” Putin said today. “As for NATO, this is another issue. The point is the security of the Russian Federation, not only today or in midterm time span. It is about the long-term outlook. Our position here is well known. We consider it unacceptable for us."

The White House has said that President Putin promised President Trump the Russian leader would sit down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but that looks to be in doubt.

“Now they’re talking about a trilateral meeting, about a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy,” Yuri Ushakov, a Kremlin aide on foreign policy, said to Russian media. “But specifically this — as far as I know — there was no agreement between Putin and Trump on it."

However, when asked today by a reporter if there will be consequences if there isn't a Putin-Zelenskyy meeting, President Trump said, "There will be."

Meanwhile, with uncertainty in the air and some heavy strikes in recent days, Zelenskyy is calling on the West to up its pressure. 

“Without pressure from the world, there will be no end to the war,” Zelenskyy said in an evening address over the weekend. “And these are all clear signals to the United States of America and to Europe.”

The White House has the next move. This week shall be telling in terms of what they choose to do with it.

As an aside, we are now less than two months away from my first book, "Lessons From the Front," hitting shelves. October 30 is the big day, and the countdown is on. Thank you to everyone who has preordered already. For those still interested in doing so, you can place your order through Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Bloomsbury.