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I have asked many times – what does it take for Washington to understand the obvious reality that the only way Putin will stop his barbaric war is for him to be stopped.
In the opinion piece below, Marc Thiessen defines the “last straw” and makes his case.
My only disagreement would be that there have been many previous straws that should have been the last.
The United States should end this war by giving Ukraine what it needs to defeat Russia – now.
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THE WASHINGTON POST
Putin’s response to Melania Trump should be the last straw
The first lady pleaded for the children of Ukraine. Putin’s reply was more bombs.
September 2, 2025 at 6:15 a.m. EDT Yesterday at 6:15 a.m. EDT
The Post had a photo of a Ukrainian firefighter dealing with a destroyed apartment house. I included the cartoon. RAM
On Aug. 15, first lady Melania Trump wrote a poignant letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, urging him to make peace for the sake of children affected by the Russia-Ukraine war. “Every child shares the same quiet dreams in their heart. … They dream of love, possibility, and safety from danger,” the first lady wrote. “Mr. Putin, you can singlehandedly restore their melodic laughter. In protecting the innocence of these children, you will do more than serve Russia alone — you serve humanity itself.”
On Thursday, Putin delivered his response — launching a massive drone and missile strike on residential buildings and a kindergarten in the center of Kyiv, killing at least 23 people, including four children.
This strike was an insult to our first lady. It was also an insult to President Donald Trump, who personally handed his wife’s letter to Putin at their Alaska summit.
Of course, Putin has been intentionally targeting children since the start of the war. According to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, more than 3,560 schools have been hit by Russian missiles, drones, artillery and even cluster munitions, including 371 that were destroyed. In those attacks, 652 children were killed and 2,142 injured, while another 2,193 remain missing. UNICEF estimates that, on average, about 16 Ukrainian children are killed or wounded every week. Indeed, many Ukrainian children are forced to study underground to protect them from Russian drones and missiles that target their schools. Classes are regularly interrupted by air raid sirens.
But Putin’s attack last week was different, seemingly intended to send a message to Trump and the European leaders gathered at the White House that he doubts their resolve. In addition to Ukrainian targets, Russia also struck the European Union’s diplomatic offices in Kyiv, as well as the offices of the British Council, a U.K. government organization that promotes cultural and educational exchange. And in a separate strike, Russia targeted an American electronics manufacturer, Flex Ltd., hitting its plant far from the front lines with two Kalibr cruise missiles.
Trump has given Putin every chance to prove he is interested in peace. With Iran, Trump set a 60-day deadline for the country to agree to end its nuclear program — and when its leaders foolishly let that deadline pass, on Day 61, Israel’s bombing began, followed soon by Operation Midnight Hammer, in which the United States “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear sites. But in Ukraine, Putin has been allowed to let deadline after deadline pass. Trump has slowly turned up the heat on Putin, recently imposing secondary sanctions on India for buying Russian oil and increasing arms sales to Ukraine. But he has yet to bring down the hammer on Putin.
Perhaps that is partly because, unlike Iran, Putin has engaged Trump — assuring him, both by phone and in person, that he wants peace. And Trump has been right to give the Russian leader every opportunity to follow up his words with concrete actions. But more than six months into Trump’s second term, Putin has failed to do so.
Trump has had far more success with Ukraine. Since President Volodymyr Zelensky’s disastrous White House meeting in late February, which led to a temporary suspension of U.S. weapons shipments, Ukraine has done what Trump has asked. In March, Ukraine agreed to Trump’s demand for a full and unconditional ceasefire. A few days later, after a call with Trump, Zelensky agreed to a 30-day partial ceasefire focused on energy and civilian infrastructure. Putin rejected both. In May, Zelensky again agreed to a U.S.-backed unconditional ceasefire. When Putin countered with an offer to meet in Istanbul instead, Zelensky agreed, as Trump requested, to meet Putin without preconditions — before Putin backed out.
What this means is that, for months, Ukraine has acceded to Trump’s requests to stop the fighting, meet at the peace table and negotiate an end to the war. Russia, by contrast, has continued to target Ukrainian civilians while stringing the United States along.
Trump has said that if Ukraine agrees to peace and Russia does not, he will side with Ukraine and impose harsh consequences on Moscow — crippling secondary tariffs on Russian oil and gas sales — while stepping up arms deliveries to Kyiv. He has suggested allowing Ukraine to use U.S. weapons to take the fight to Russian territory, declaring: “Crooked and grossly incompetent Joe Biden would not let Ukraine FIGHT BACK, only DEFEND. How did that work out?”
He’s right. Before the Alaska summit, Trump said there would be “severe” consequences if Putin did not agree to a ceasefire. He understandably delayed those consequences in the hope that, with his twin summits in Anchorage and Washington, peace might be within reach. Now, Putin has responded to Trump’s diplomacy, and his wife’s heartfelt letter, with a slap in the face — a barbarous attack that makes clear he does not care about restoring the melodic laughter of Ukrainian children.
That should be the final straw. (Emphasis added RAM) Putin has demonstrated with his brutality that he won’t stop his assault on Ukraine willingly — that he must be coerced. So let the coercion begin.
ROBERT MCCONNELL
Co-Founder, U.S.-Ukraine Foundation
Director of External Affairs, Friends of Ukraine Network
The introduction is Mr. McConnell’s and does not necessarily represent the views of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation and/or the Friends of Ukraine Network (FOUN).