President Donald Trump has set August 8 as the deadline for Russia and Ukraine to reach a peace agreement.

Dr. Fred Hoffman, a national security expert from Mercyhurst University explained that reaching a deal will come down to two things, pressure points and analytical biases.

While Hoffman is unsure if the agreement will happen, he does believe that President Trump's move, ordering two nuclear submarines to be positioned close to Russia, is a show of strength.

"It lets them know we are not a paper tiger, there are limits to what we are going to put up with and our stuff works," Hoffman said.

President Trump also said if a deal is not done between the two countries by the deadline, Russia will face sanctions.

"There are sanctions and then there are sanctions, there are sanctions where the European countries say we will not sell to you, directly, and all of a sudden, sales in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan go through the roof and you wonder what that stuff is really going and the other thing is Trump, very effectively, is hitting India because that is where Russia is selling a lot of their oil and where they are doing a lot of their illicit trading and Trump is saying India is going to pay for it, so I think that the Trump administration is correct in selectively hitting the pressure points with the Russians to really have an impact," Hoffman said.

President Trump also indicated that Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff will be heading to Moscow either Wednesday or Thursday.

Hoffman also believes he is the right man for the job as he has already had a professional history dealing with Russia.

In response to that move, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, "we are always happy to see Mr. Witkoff in Moscow," and that Russia is, "committed to a political and diplomatic solution to the Ukrainian problem."