If Vladimir Putin wants peace, he has a funny way of showing it. Over the weekend, Russia launched its largest aerial attack on Ukraine since the full-scale invasion of February 2022. A day later, Donald Trump was asked if he was ready to intensify sanctions on Russia and responded laconically — “Yeah I am.”

The US president’s comment may have sounded like an off-the-cuff response to the latest Russian attacks. In fact, it reflected the outcome of a call between Trump and 10 European leaders on Thursday that took close to two hours. The European leaders included Emmanuel Macron of France, Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission, Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, Giorgia Meloni of Italy and Alexander Stubb of Finland.

During the call, Trump was sometimes profane and confrontational. But the Europeans have got used to that. They believe they are close to getting the Trump administration to intensify secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian energy and stepping up military aid to Ukraine.