Four years after President Vladimir Putin launched a war against Ukraine, it has become clear that Russia sees itself as having achieved some form of victory. Victory for Putin here is mostly a function of the Trump administration’s inclination to end the war quickly.

In an effort to highlight his role, Trump appears ready to accept Russia’s right to seize the territory of a neighboring country by force, ignoring the European implications of his position, particularly when it comes to countries such as the three Baltic republics – Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia – or Poland.

However, the pressing question today is whether we can truly speak of a Russian victory in Ukraine, or whether Donald Trump is simply trying to help the Russian president out of the predicament he finds himself in. This is the Russian dilemma caused by a war that has dragged on for four years, feeding into the policies of the current U.S. administration toward Europe and toward Russia itself.

The war in Ukraine has exposed Europe’s inability to defend a country that is a key component of the continent’s security. Perhaps the most important lesson of the war is that European countries must take responsibility for their own defense, a realization which coincides with Trump's approach toward European security. Since entering the White House for the first time in 2016, the American president has repeatedly called for sufficient defense budgets to enable Europe to become an effective military power. European defense spending is well behind the US , and in many cases well below their mandated NATO-spending levels, although the gap has narrowed in recent years.

Since the war in Ukraine, every European country, including Germany, has felt the threat of Russia and reassessed its defense policies. Put differently, Putin has advanced the position that Donald Trump has long wanted. But above all, the war in Ukraine has exposed Vladimir Putin himself, revealing that his dream of restoring the glories of the Soviet Union are far more costly than expected.

Putin believed that the Russian army could reach Kyiv within a week. On the way to Kyiv, Russian generals polished the medals they had earned in preparation for a military parade that never happened for the "Red Army" in the Ukrainian capital.

The role of the Biden administration in thwarting Russian aggression cannot be ignored. From the very beginning, the administration provided enough weapons to enable the Ukrainian army to resist and repel Russian forces. Timely intelligence gave the Biden administration specifics on the upcoming Russian offensive. At the time, the CIA was led by a capable Russia expert, William Burns, who had previously served as ambassador to Moscow and understood how Putin made decisions. With the CIA’s intelligence, the Biden administration was able to pinpoint February 24, 2022, the day Vladimir Putin would begin his war on Ukraine.

The war in Ukraine has also revealed the extent to which Russian weaponry lags behind American and even European arms. Today, the only person Putin can rely on to pull him out of the Ukrainian quagmire is Donald Trump.

Conversely, Ukraine might consider making concessions because under Trump, the United States is failing to provide adequate armaments. Yet Ukraine remains capable of resisting despite the heavy losses and suffering endured by its people. There is European support for Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. While this support is not sufficient, the reality is that Europe has no choice but to prevent Ukraine from falling. Europe must now contend with the new reality: the Trump administration is the biggest threat to Ukrainian victory.

The war has exposed Russia, its fragile economy, its weapons, and its army, and revealed how much it now relies on Donald Trump.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the writers are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Annahar.