Donald Trump is viewing Russian President Vladimir Putin in an increasingly unfavorable light, sources close to the American leader told The Wall Street Journal.

According to them, Trump initially believed that the Russian army would defeat Ukraine on the battlefield. Putin repeatedly told Trump personally about the imminent collapse of Ukraine’s front line: for example, on July 14, during a phone conversation, he claimed that the situation for Kyiv was “critical,” and on March 9 he spoke of the Russian forces’ “highly successful advance.” After meeting with Putin in Alaska in August 2025, Trump said that Ukraine had already lost the war and that Volodymyr Zelensky “had no cards.”

As WSJ writes, Trump told Putin that he wanted the war to end. He appealed to the enormous losses at the front, which, according to Western estimates, had reached 1.4 million for the Russian army (including killed and wounded) and about 2 million for both armies combined. In fatalities alone, according to British intelligence, Putin has lost 500,000 soldiers at the front.

But despite the losses and Ukrainian drone strikes reaching cities in Siberia 3,000 km from the border, Putin has not changed his strategic goal of subjugating Ukraine, American officials believe.  According to them, however, Trump remains optimistic about the prospects for a peaceful settlement of the war.

According to WSJ’s sources, Trump was impressed by Ukraine’s ability to resist and by its long-range strikes on Russian territory, which affected dozens of oil refineries and then logistics hubs. Trump is also “in awe of” Ukraine’s drone industry, which produces more than a million drones a year, and especially Kyiv’s ability to repel Shahed raids, something American forces also deal with in Iran, the WSJ’s interlocutors emphasize.

This, along with the campaign by European leaders, has changed Trump’s attitude toward Zelensky, whom the American president increasingly sees as a winner. However, how long this shift in Trump’s preferences will last is unclear, WSJ’s interlocutors stress. In the past, Putin was able to successfully advance his point of view in conversations with Trump and his aides, they note.