The European charm offensive that helped turn Trump against Putin

After seeing footage of Russian airstrikes on Ukrainian cities late on July 11, President Trump called German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on his cellphone to express frustration over Vladimir Putin's continued assault on his smaller neighbor, according to two people familiar with the conversation.

- Bojan Pancevski

Merz was surprised, these people said, but quickly realized Trump had lost patience with the Russian president. Trump said he was now ready to accept an offer Merz had made days earlier: to use German funds to buy U.S.-made weapons for Ukraine, the two officials said.

"President Trump has expressed his frustration with Putin in public and in private," White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said. "He wants to stop the killing and end this brutal war, which is why he is selling American-made weapons to NATO members."

On Monday, Trump set a 50-day deadline for Putin to begin negotiating in earnest, announced a major arms package for Ukraine—to be financed by North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries—and threatened to impose additional economic sanctions on Moscow if it didn't move to end the war.

The moves followed a monthslong campaign by European leaders—who didn't think Putin was serious about negotiating and instead was seeking to seize more territory in Ukraine—to persuade Trump to arm Kyiv and pressure Putin into serious negotiations.

Germany, France, Britain and others stepped up engagement with the U.S. government, with senior politicians opening confidential back channels to key Trump administration officials.

Alexander Stubb, president of Finland, struck up a friendship with Trump at a golf tournament in Florida, according to the two leaders' statements and Finnish officials. Merz visited Trump on June 5 at the White House and then spoke to him nearly every week, according to German officials.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte sent flattering text messages—and later called Trump "daddy" as he voiced support for the American leader's frustration with Israel and Iran and getting those two countries' cease-fire to stick.

During the NATO summit in the Netherlands on June 25, member states said they would spend 5% of their GDP on defense—meeting a long-standing Trump demand.