'Vladimir, STOP!': Trump makes an all-caps callout but will Putin hear it?

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'Vladimir, STOP!': Trump makes an all-caps callout but will Putin hear it?

2025-04-25 04:59 Last Updated At：05:00

WASHINGTON (AP) — Even in the realm of Donald Trump's long-preferred style of punch-through-the-static communication, this was quite something.

On Thursday morning, a post on his Truth Social account exhorted Russian leader Vladimir Putin to end military strikes on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

“Vladimir, STOP!”

Or, as the entire post went: “I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying. Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!”

The Republican president was reacting to Russia attacking Kyiv with an hourslong barrage of missiles and drones. At least 12 people were killed and 90 were injured in the deadliest assault on the city since last July. For Trump, trying to propel a U.S-led effort at a peace agreement, frustration is growing. He upbraided Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week as well, though that was not on Truth Social.

Immediate analysis of Trump's social post focused on the geopolitical implications of the moment and the notion that Trump was talking tough to Putin, a leader to whom he has been accused of being overly deferential.

Other dynamics are at play as well.

Heads of state and government are typically called Mr. President or Madam Prime Minister — even, in public, even often by their equals. Trump's callout to simply “Vladimir” in a public forum stands out, although it is not uncommon for Trump to use first names when talking with world leaders. What Putin would think of such an approach is not clear.

Diplomacy's language has evolved over time into a mannered, workshopped machine. Part of Trump's brand and appeal has been to break out of such conventions.

Diplomacy was once conducted through formal letters and rare visits. No longer. But have we gotten to the point where social media — which on its face tends to feel more personal, more immediate, less like a diplomatic apparatus doing its work — is a legitimate tool for one leader to reach out to another? For Trump, it's often the opening move.

For years, Trump has used social media platforms — Twitter, X, Truth Social — to amplify his opinions, often through capital letters for emphasis. He has been banned, then reinstated from at least two platforms. He persists.

Finally, there's this: Odds are that not too many people in the world are telling Vladimir Putin to, simply, “STOP!” in such a casual way. But much of the world has been shouting versions of that message, without success, for the three-plus years since he sent Russian troops into Ukraine. Will this time be different?

NATO weighs a US demand to massively hike defense spending as some struggle to meet the current goal

2025-05-15 16:11 Last Updated At：16:21

ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) — NATO foreign ministers on Thursday debated an American demand to massively ramp up defense investment to 5% of gross domestic product over the next 7 years, as the U.S. focuses on security challenges outside of Europe.

At talks in Antalya, Turkey, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said that more investment and military equipment are needed to deal with the threat posed by Russia and terrorism, but also by China which has become the focus of U.S. concern.

“When it comes to the core defense spending, we need to do much, much more,” Rutte told reporters. He underlined that once the war in Ukraine is over, Russia could reconstitute its armed forces within 3-5 years.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio underlined that “the alliance is only as strong as its weakest link.” He insisted that the U.S. investment demand is about “spending money on the capabilities that are needed for the threats of the 21st century.”

The debate on defense spending is heating up ahead of a summit of U.S. President Donald Trump and his NATO counterparts in the Netherlands on June 24-25. It's a high-level gathering that will set the course for future European security, including that of Ukraine.

In 2023, as Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine entered its second year, NATO leaders agreed to spend at least 2% of GDP on national defense budgets. So far, 22 of the 32 member countries have done so.

The new spending plan under consideration is for all allies to aim for 3.5% of GDP on their defense budgets by 2032, plus an extra 1.5% on potentially defense-related things like infrastructure — roads, bridges, air- and sea ports.

While the two figures add up to 5%, factoring in infrastructure and cybersecurity would change the basis on which NATO traditionally calculates defense spending. The seven-year time frame is also short by the alliance’s usual standards.

Rutte refused to confirm the numbers under consideration, but he acknowledged that it's important to include infrastructure in the equation, “for example to make sure that bridges, yes, are there for you and me to drive our cars but also if necessary to make sure that the bridge will hold a tank. So all these expenditures have to be taken into account.”

It’s difficult to see how many members would reach a new 3.5% goal. Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Italy, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain are not even spending 2% yet, although Spain does expect to reach that goal in 2025, a year past the deadline.

The U.S. demand would require investment at an unprecedented scale, but Trump has cast doubt over whether the U.S. would defend allies that spend too little, and this remains an incentive to do more, even as European allies realize that they must match the threat posed by Russia.

“There is a lot at stake for us,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys said. He urged his NATO partners to meet the investment goals faster than the 2032 target "because we see the tempo and the speed, how Russia generates its forces now as we speak.”

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said his country should reach 2.5% by 2027, and then 3% by the next U.K. elections planned for 2029.

“It’s hugely important that we recommit to Europe’s defense and that we step up alongside our U.S. partners in this challenging geopolitical moment where there are so many precious across the world, and particularly in the Indo-Pacific,” he said.

As an organization, NATO plays no direct security role in Asia, and it remains unclear what demands the Trump administration might make of the allies as it turns its attention to China. The last NATO security operation outside the Euro-Atlantic area, its 18-year stay in Afghanistan, ended in chaos.

Cook reported from Brussels, and Fraser from Ankara, Turkey.