Trump's stunning string of Putin-friendly moves

• But his treatment of Putin as a partner and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a foe has rung alarm bells for NATO allies and even some fellow Republicans.

Driving the news: A White House official told Axios' Barak Ravid Monday night that Trump is stopping all arms shipments to Ukraine because he's "focused on peace" and Ukraine must "be committed to that goal as well."

• Trump told reporters earlier Monday that he believes Russia wants peace, but that "maybe someone doesn't want to make a deal" — an apparent reference to Zelensky.
• "If someone doesn't want to make a deal, I think that person won't be around very long," Trump added, likely referring to MAGA's growing calls for Zelensky's resignation or new elections in Ukraine.

The Kremlin, for its part, said Sunday that the "rapidly changing" U.S. foreign policy approach "largely coincides with our vision."

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov praised Trump's "common sense," while other Kremlin officials reveled in Trump's steamrolling of Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Breaking it down: Trump has made at least five Moscow-friendly moves just in the last two weeks.

1. The White House asked Treasury and State to identify sanctions on Russia that could be loosened as part of the process of improving relations, Reuters reports.

• Trump didn't deny that Monday, telling reporters: "We want to make deals with everybody."

2. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly ordered U.S. Cyber Command to suspend offensive cyber and information operations against Russia.

• The suspension is intended to last as long as negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war play out, officials told the Washington Post.

3. Trump has called for elections in Ukraine, and he and his allies suggested after the Oval Office spat that Zelensky might need to go.

• Regime change in Kyiv was one of Putin's original objectives for invading. It remains unlikely he'll be able to install a Kremlin stooge any time soon.
• Still, Trump's comments denouncing Zelensky — and his moves to freeze him out after the meeting — have weakened the position of a leader the Kremlin has long sought to discredit internationally.
• Reality check: Ukraine has been under martial law since the invasion began, and its constitution does not allow for elections in such a scenario.

4. The U.S. voted with Russia and 16 other mostly authoritarian countries to oppose a UN resolution last week that condemned Russia's "aggression" in Ukraine.

• The Biden administration repeatedly used such votes to depict Russia as a pariah state. This time, the U.S. voted with Moscow and against nearly all its Western allies.

5. Suspending weapons shipments — which the Trump administration had already dramatically slowed — is the latest dramatic step.

• Billions of dollars of equipment committed under Biden were in different stages along the delivery pipeline, Axios' Sareen Habeshian reports.

• Zelensky told NBC's "Meet the Press" last month that Ukraine had only a "low chance to survive" without U.S. military support.
• Trump and his team have also discussed whether to limit U.S. intelligence cooperation with Ukraine.

The big picture: Trump's friendliness toward Putin isn't a new phenomenon. Investigations into the president's ties to Russia dogged much of his first term, and pursuing revenge for the "Russia hoax" has become core to MAGA's political identity.

• Trump pushed back Monday on the notion that his foreign policy matches the Kremlin's, pointing to the fact that Russia's past invasions — Georgia in 2008, Crimea in 2014, and all of Ukraine in 2022 — took place while he was out of his office.
• "Under President Trump they got nothing, and under President Biden they tried to get the whole thing. If I didn't get in here they would have gotten the whole thing," Trump argued.
• The White House, Pentagon, State Department and Treasury all declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.

Between the lines: Dangling sanctions relief, a cyber truce and international reintegration could all give Trump leverage over Putin, particularly at a time when he's trying to convince him to make peace.

• The honeymoon may not last, particularly as Trump has himself conceded he may be wrong in thinking Putin truly wants a peace deal.
• So far, though, he's offered nearly all carrots and no sticks for Putin — in sharp contrast to Zelensky.
• In part, that reflects Trump's preference for dealing superpower-to-superpower, in a world dictated by hard power.

Go deeper: Trump's new world order