President Donald Trump‘s strategy for resolving the war in Ukraine has so far centered on heavy U.S. pressure applied to Ukraine and sympathetic rhetoric toward Russia. It is important that this change now, and with his recent decision to cut off all Russian oil sales to Europe, there are positive signs that the president understands this.

Trump has repeatedly suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin “holds all the cards” in Ukraine. This is not true. Although Russia holds the battlefield advantage in troops and equipment, its military has shown a consistent inability to conduct big-scale operations involving a wide array of different ground and air units.