President Donald Trump told NBC on Thursday he struck a deal with NATO for the US to send weapons to Ukraine through the alliance, and that NATO will pay for those weapons “a hundred percent.”

Flattery and pressure — coupled with President Trump’s growing dissatisfaction with President Vladimir V. Putin — have helped build momentum for new economic punishments.

It was a “telling attack,” observed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who condemned the strikes as timed to rebuff peace efforts.