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Leo Hohmann – Leo’s Newsletter Oct 16, 2025

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President Trump announced plans today for another summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, this time in Budapest, Hungary.

The meeting will take place at a date to be determined after “high-level advisors” from the two countries meet next week, he said in a Truth Social post on Thursday.

Trump expressed hope, after a phone call with Putin, that by meeting face-to-face the two leaders will be able to bring the bloody Russia-Ukraine war to an end.

Thursday’s 84-minute phone call “was a very productive one,” he said, adding: “I believe great progress was made with today’s telephone conversation.”

The last summit between the two presidents took place in Anchorage, Alaska, in August. While both called that meeting productive, nothing of substance was ever achieved. In fact, relations between the two superpowers have deteriorated greatly since that August summit in Alaska.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday praised the Trump administration’s diplomatic outreach and noted that it is the sole Western government that has made any effort to understand the fundamental causes of the Ukraine conflict.

However, Lavrov said Moscow is still waiting for Washington’s response to the roadmap presented by Putin at the Alaska summit.

Thursday’s phone conversation came amid the backdrop of Trump threatening to send U.S. Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine for use against Russia. These threats by the Trump administration have played out in media interviews and over social media for the last two weeks. This is a strange way to conduct foreign policy, but that’s the Trump style. Everything is geared for maximum theatrics.

This penchant for the theatrical was on display during a press gaggle aboard Air Force One on Monday following a conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump said Ukraine needs Patriot missiles “very badly” and would like to also receive the more offensive and deadly Tomahawk missiles.

“They’d like to have Tomahawks. We talked about that, and so we’ll see. I don’t know, I might have to speak to Russia, to be honest with you, about Tomahawks,” Trump said. “Do they want to have the Tomahawks going in their direction? I don’t think so.”

“I might speak to Russia about that, in all fairness. I told that to President Zelensky, because Tomahawks are a new step of aggression,” Trump added. “I might say, ‘Look, if this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks.’ I may say that.”

Trump described the Tomahawk missile as an “incredible” and “very offensive” weapon.

Putin reportedly told Trump during the phone call Thursday that Tomahawks won’t change the battlefield situation, but will harm U.S.-Russia relations.

Retired Lt. Col. Daniel Davis noted, in an interview today with former British diplomat Ian Proud, that Ukraine’s progress in the war has been stopped cold over the last three or four months, while Russia continues its slow advance. Ukraine seems to have a two-pronged strategy — escalate and provoke. Each new escalation leads to a provocation that is designed to expand the war and draw NATO into direct conflict with Russia.

If Zelensky gets his way and Trump delivers the Tomahawks, this would represent “two steps up the escalation ladder,” Proud told Col. Davis.


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So there you have it. Escalate and provoke. That’s Zelensky’s strategy. And right now it looks like at least a 50-50 chance that Trump will allow Zelensky to continue this game of escalating and provoking, with the intention of setting a trap for Putin, hoping to bait the Russian leader into an attack on NATO forces in Poland or Romania or perhaps the Baltics. Then it’s game on for World War III.

My question is this: Is it really Ukraine’s strategy, to escalate and provoke Russia, or is this the NATO strategy, using Ukraine as its pawn?

I would lean toward the latter. I don’t think the US or NATO cares one bit about Ukraine and will use that country until its last man is left standing if it means continuing this war against Russia. The ultimate goal of this war has never changed. From the beginning, the goal has been regime change and getting control of Russia’s wealth of resources.

 

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