Timeline: Trump-Putin-Ukraine

A thumbnail reader's guide to the Trump-Putin-Ukraine dynamic and its global consequences

Last updated: July 15, 2025 at 12 p.m. ET

Over the past decade, the relationship between Donald J. Trump and Vladimir Putin has evolved from an apparent alignment to a fierce competition for global energy dominance. What began as mutual admiration between two strongmen—and the source of internet-fueled rumors about Trump’s allegiances—has evolved into a struggle for control of the world's nuclear power infrastructure, uranium supplies, and other energy markets. With Trump's return to the U.S. presidency in 2025, his foreign policy decisions increasingly reflect not collaboration with Putin, but rather rivalry, utilizing Ukraine as the battleground for competing models of energy imperialism.

The geopolitical implications of this energy cold war between Trump and Putin continue to reshape international relations, with Ukraine caught between two powers more interested in kilowatts than sovereignty. This timeline charts major events that illustrate the evolution from bromance to competition, noting how both leaders have instrumentalized Ukraine's defensive war for their own energy ambitions.

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1986

• Donald J. Trump meets Soviet Ambassador Yuri Dubinin in New York, marking the beginning of Trump's engagement with Soviet officials.

1987

• Trump visits Moscow for the first time, ostensibly to explore real estate opportunities.

  • The visit later fuels speculation about his potential recruitment by Soviet intelligence.

2014

• Russia invades Ukraine, annexing Crimea and sparking ongoing conflict in the Donbas region.

July 25, 2019

• Trump withholds nearly $400 million in military aid from Ukraine in an attempt to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into investigating Joe Biden's family.

  • This action later leads to Trump's first impeachment.

November 5, 2024

• Trump wins the 2024 U.S. presidential election, promising to end the war in Ukraine.

  • Trump claims he can end the war in 24 hours.