Trump threatens Russia with fresh sanctions if Putin continues to refuse Ukraine negotiations
Washington DC - US President Donald Trump on Tuesday indicated that he may impose fresh sanctions on Russia if President Vladimir Putin refuses to negotiate a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
"Sounds like it," Trump told reporters at the White House, when asked if the US would apply additional sanctions on Moscow if the Russian president did not come to the table.
Prior to his inauguration on Monday, Trump vowed to end the Ukraine war immediately upon taking office, raising expectations he would leverage aid to force Kyiv to make concessions to Russia, which invaded in February 2022.
In unusually critical remarks of Putin, Trump said on Monday that the Russian president "should make a deal."
"He can't be thrilled he's not doing so well," Trump continued. "I mean, he's grinding it out, but most people thought that war would have been over in about one week, and now you're into three years, right?"
The Republican added that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had told him that he wanted a peace agreement to end the war.
Trump's past criticisms of Zelensky and opposition to further US aid to Ukraine has sparked fears in Kyiv that the country will be forced to give up land for peace.
Cover photo: Collage: Gavriil Grigorov / POOL / AFP & REUTERS