“I don’t think Putin will be serious about negotiations until he gets worried,” former White House national security adviser John Bolton said, arguing that the war in Iran has not just distracted Washington from Ukraine but may also have reinforced the Kremlin’s belief that time remains on its side.
Bolton, who served as US national security adviser during Donald Trump’s first term, told Slava TV, a Ukrainian‑language sister channel of TVP World within Poland’s public broadcaster, that the current pause in diplomatic momentum should not be mistaken for progress.
In his view, Trump’s attention has shifted to a more immediate crisis in the Middle East, while Russia continues to see little reason to compromise.
Iran shifts the spotlight
Bolton said Moscow still believes it can outlast Western pressure and that Putin sees Trump as someone he can manipulate, making any European attempt to replace Washington as the main driver of talks unlikely to succeed.
Instead of focusing on mediation, Bolton said Europe should deepen military support for Kyiv and help change the balance on the battlefield.
His remarks come as the wider Iran war has begun to reshape the political and economic backdrop around Ukraine.
Recent reporting has shown Washington weighing sanctions relief or waivers for Russian oil cargoes already at sea as markets react to disruption in the Middle East, while energy prices have climbed as the conflict threatens shipping and supply routes.
Bolton argued that existing Western sanctions remain too weak and said “maximum pressure” should mean no approval for Russian oil sales at all.
Ukraine’s value to allies
Bolton also pointed to a lesson now becoming harder for Washington and its partners to ignore: Ukraine’s battlefield experience has become a strategic asset in its own right.
That issue has taken on fresh urgency. Reuters and TVP World have reported that Ukraine has already sent drone experts to Jordan and to Gulf states, including Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, to help counter Iranian aerial attacks.
Bolton said that experience should remind the US that alliances are not one-way relationships and that Ukraine can contribute valuable know-how rather than simply request assistance.
For Bolton, the broader implication reaches beyond the current war. He said Ukraine’s forces now have more recent large-scale combat experience than the militaries of EU member states, making Kyiv indispensable to any future European security architecture.
“Finding a way to work with them, whether they formally join NATO or not, I think should be the highest priority for everybody in NATO,” he said.