It’s often easier to start a war than to end it. President Donald Trump is discovering that as he seeks to stop the fighting in Gaza and in Ukraine, two vexing conflicts he promised to end quickly upon taking office. To bring peace to both, Trump will have to exert pressure on two leaders he has so far been loath to criticize publicly: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In Gaza, a ceasefire deal that came into effect when Trump took office — and for which he took full credit — has effectively collapsed. With Israel and Hamas at a stalemate over whether to extend the ceasefire or move on to fresh talks on ending the conflict, Netanyahu has resumed a full-scale bombing of the enclave. More than 400 Palestinians were killed and hundreds of others were injured on Tuesday, one of the deadliest days of the war.

With Ukraine, a 21/2-hour phone call between Trump and Putin on Tuesday produced only a modest agreement that the Russians would stop attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for 30 days. (Ukraine also agreed to a halt on energy infrastructure attacks on Wednesday.) Putin agreed to a prisoner exchange and future talks aimed at stopping maritime attacks on the Black Sea. And in a sign of their newfound bonhomie, Trump and Putin agreed to hold hockey tournaments in each other’s countries. This came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not a party to the talks, already agreed to an unconditional 30-day pause in the fighting — something Putin did not accept.

The agreement to cease targeting each other’s energy infrastructure is important, for Moscow as much as Kyiv. Russian missiles, glide bombs and drones have systematically degraded Ukraine’s power grid. Ukraine’s energy sector has suffered $14.6 billion in losses from attacks that destroyed hydroelectric and thermal power plants and damaged multiple electrical substations and oil and gas facilities.

The Ukrainians have fought back with targeted attacks against oil and gas facilities inside Russia, disrupting one of Putin’s last remaining sources of revenue. Russia continues to export fossil fuels despite U.S. and European sanctions. Last month, 356 vessels, including 167 “shadow tankers,” exported Russian crude oil, mostly to China, India and Turkey. Despite the sanctions, the European Union remains a major importer of Russian gas and liquefied natural gas. So, for Putin, the agreement to halt mutual attacks against energy infrastructure is not so much a concession as a financial lifesaver.

In other words, Putin agreed to just enough to appear interested in peace — and getting something he clearly wanted without giving up much in return. Just after the call ended, Russian attacks resumed against Ukrainian cities.

Putin is reluctant to agree to a broader cessation of hostilities because he feels emboldened by Trump’s recent pivot to Moscow and abandoning of the United States’ European allies, which have been left sidelined from the talks. Putin also feels more confident that Russian troops are making gains on the battlefield. Recently, Russian soldiers, backed by North Koreans, managed to wrest control of most of the Kursk region back from Ukraine. Ukrainians had seized parts of that Russian territory to use as a bargaining chip in future negotiations. Putin also has to contend with domestic concerns: A large contingent of ultranationalists has pushed a pro-war narrative, and any peace deal that gives concessions to Ukraine risks a backlash from the war’s fervent supporters.

Likewise in Israel, Netanyahu is reluctant to agree to a complete cessation of hostilities with Hamas because he feels emboldened by Trump’s full-throated support of Israel’s war aims and confident that further military action might eliminate a battered Hamas. Netanyahu also has domestic considerations: Hard-liners in his coalition have warned that they will abandon his government if he agrees to a permanent end to the war while Hamas remains a threat. Left in limbo are the remaining living hostages in Gaza seized by Hamas in its Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist raid into Israel.

After a year of devastating air attacks and Israeli ground operations that destroyed much of Hamas’s tunnel infrastructure and weapons arsenals, the group is eager for a deal that ends the war completely.

Netanyahu and Putin are both pursuing maximalist demands. Netanyahu wants the total destruction of Hamas, no role for outside peacekeepers, no role for the Palestinian Authority that currently controls the West Bank and a continued Israeli military presence. Putin wants Ukraine neutralized, neutered and virtually disarmed, with no E.U. peacekeepers, no possibility of joining NATO, and continued Russian occupation of the territory it has illegally seized.

Trump must decide. He has already threatened Hamas and bullied Ukraine. If he wants to be a peacemaker, he must come down harder to get concessions from Israel and Russia.