Dan Rice

A US defence expert has claimed President Donald Trump could dramatically shift the course of the war in Ukraine — potentially within a single day — if Washington unleashes coordinated political and financial pressure on Russia.

The argument comes as diplomacy stalls and the conflict grinds deeper into attrition. According to analyst Dan Rice, the key is not battlefield breakthroughs but a rapid chain of geopolitical deals orchestrated from the White House.

The “Three Calls” Strategy

Rice, president of American University Kyiv and a graduate of United States Military Academy, argues Trump’s leverage with global leaders could trigger an immediate shift.

His proposal begins with calls to Gulf powers — specifically United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The goal would be securing roughly $10bn to fund new US-made weapons for Ukraine through international procurement channels.

The pitch: bankroll Ukraine’s defence now to stabilise global energy routes and contain wider regional chaos.

Forcing Europe to Match the Cash

The next step would target Europe.

Rice suggests asking Mark Rutte, head of NATO, to rally European governments to match Gulf contributions — potentially adding another $30bn in military support for Kyiv.

The strategy is designed to create instant momentum. A sudden surge of funding would translate into new weapons contracts and reinforce Ukraine’s long-term battlefield capacity.

Turning Ukraine into the Training Hub

Rice’s plan also sees Ukraine exporting its wartime expertise.

Under the proposal, Ukrainian forces would expand training programmes for European and Gulf militaries, particularly in counter-drone warfare — an area where Kyiv has gained hard-won experience fighting Russian attacks.

Such cooperation would deepen military ties while spreading the burden of defence.

The Final Call to the Kremlin

Only after the financial and military framework is locked in would Trump place the final call — to Vladimir Putin.

With fresh funding and international backing behind Ukraine, Rice argues the message would be blunt: Moscow no longer holds the strategic advantage.

“Trump could make all these calls in one day,” Rice said. “He said he could solve the war in a day. He just didn’t say which day.”

Trump could still end Putin’s war in just one day, US expert claims

Hmm, Europe has just loaned $90bn. A $10 + $30bn addition tranche would be welcome, not sure it would be that decisive. Ukraine is already exporting expertise. Operation Interflex is the UK operation to train up British troops. But it contains formalised mechanisms for skills transfer back to the UK. Ukrainian instructors, for instance, are developing training packages to train British drone operators, expanding considerably the British approach, with the Ukrainians favouring a longer 30 hours classroom time and 30 hours real world flying before operations.

https://soldier.army.mod.uk/issues/jan-26/update/innovation-station

Putin can't stop, because if he does, he's toast. He's destroyed his military (its gone way beyond getting rid of some old kit to clear the decks for gucci kit, and the high casualty rate means the Russian army is being bled of accumulated experience), and he's destroyed his economy. 50-60% of the government budget is now defence. 10% of GDP is spent on warfighting machines. That's 10% spent of things which are intended to be destroyed.

The Russian government is paying for this war through loans; the debt interest payments now exceed spend on healthcare and social services. Demobilisation will cause an immediate economic crisis, with hundreds of thousands out of work. All those foreign companies who, pre-war, had invested in factories, have gone. At best, factories become final assembly/packaging operations for China.

The war ends by either a 1917 sudden collapse of the Russian military machine, or a palace coup, which will enable the war to end, because the new leaders can blame the guy who fell out of his groundfloor window, falling 300 feet to his death. While on fire. Freak electric blanket accident.

Since 1613, 44% of Russian rulers were overthrown. Prigozhin’s mutiny wasn't stopped by the army. Whenever the mutineers met the army, the army stood aside. The mutiny stopped because the Belarus President brokered a deal.

https://www.19fortyfive.com/2026/03/russia-should-get-ready-for-the-fall-of-vladimir-putin/

Ghostbusters???