The threat of economic sanctions
Trump also again threatened the Kremlin with a new round of very tough economic sanctions if it continues to refuse to engage in peace talks.
The president warned Putin that the initial 50-day deadline to reach a peace agreement has been shortened, and that what follows are extremely harsh economic sanctions
Trump also again threatened the Kremlin with a new round of very tough economic sanctions if it continues to refuse to engage in peace talks.
During a meeting with the NATO Secretary on June 14, the head of state vowed to be willing to impose 100% tariffs on Russia if Putin did not reach a peace agreement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi within the initial 50-day deadline.
These tariffs would be applied as "secondary tariffs", which would sanction countries doing business with Putin, mainly those buying Russian oil and gas, such as China and India.
The Kremlin wants Ukraine to cede the territory that Russian forces have taken since they launched their invasion more than three years ago, a demand that Zelenskyi firmly rejects. Putin, meanwhile, has denied his Ukrainian counterpart's requests for an in-person meeting, arguing that he is an illegitimate leader.
In a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer this Monday, President Donald Trump once again expressed his disappointment with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his intentions to continue the war in Ukraine.
The Republican leader stated that every time there appears to be some progress with Putin to end the war, Russia launches another attack against Ukraine.
For this reason, Trump stated that he will reduce to 10 or 12 days the initial 50-day deadline he gave Putin two weeks ago to reach a peace agreement with Ukraine.
"We thought we had already solved it several times, and then President Putin comes out and starts launching rockets at some city, like Kyiv, and kills many people in a nursing home or whatever. There are bodies lying all over the street", Trump said.
“I'm going to set a new deadline of about 10 or 12 days from today. There's no reason to wait. We just don't see any progress being made”, he continued.
Last week, a summit between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators took place in Istanbul. However, as has been happening in these meetings, the parties only agree on humanitarian issues and prisoner exchanges, and no significant progress toward declaring a ceasefire has been achieved.
In fact, large-scale bombings were reported in Ukrainian and Russian cities after last week's peace talks concluded.
