Trump’s pivot on Ukraine shows he’s unwilling to put maximum pressure on Putin

As Donald Trump sat in the Oval Office on Monday and announced that NATO would be buying U.S. weapons and shipping them to Kyiv, it was a major pivot for the U.S. president and for an administration that just two weeks ago halted the supply of some military hardware, including air defence missiles which were already en route to Ukraine. But while it was a sign that Trump has grown frustrated by Vladimir Putin’s recalcitrance, the announcement was also a signal that Trump is unwilling to go all-in to pressure Russia’s president. Instead of immediately hitting Moscow’s trading partners with…