US President Donald Trump told Russia on Monday to end its Ukraine war within 50 days or face massive new economic sanctions as he laid out plans for new infusions of weaponry for Kiev via NATO.
Trump said he was “very, very unhappy” with Vladimir Putin, underlining his insistence that his patience had finally snapped with the Russian leader’s refusal to end his three-year-old war on Ukraine.
“We’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days, tariffs at about 100 percent,” Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
The 79-year-old added that they would be “secondary tariffs” that target Russia’s remaining trade partners – thereby seeking to cripple Moscow’s ability to survive already sweeping Western sanctions.
Trump and Rutte also unveiled a deal under which the NATO military alliance would buy arms from the United States – including Patriot anti-missile batteries – and then send them to Ukraine to help it battle Russia’s invasion.
“This is billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment is going to be purchased from the United States, going to NATO… and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield,” Trump said.
Rutte said Ukraine would get “massive numbers” of weapons under the deal, which is aimed at placating Trump’s long-held complaints that the US is paying too much to aid Ukraine.
However, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Trump’s deadline, while “very positive,” was too far into the future.
“Fifty days is a very long time if we see that they are killing innocent civilians every day,” Kallas said.
Trump launched a bid at rapprochement with Putin shortly after starting his second term in January, as he sought to honour his election campaign promise to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours.
His pivot towards Putin sparked fears in Kiev that he was about to sell out Ukraine, especially after Trump and his team berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in February.
But Trump has indicated he is increasingly frustrated with Putin in recent weeks as the Russian leader, instead of halting his invasion, instead stepped up attacks to record levels.
The US leader gave an intriguing personal insight into how First Lady Melania Trump had helped changed his thinking about Putin, a man for whom he formerly expressed admiration.
“I go home, I tell the First Lady, ‘you know, I spoke to Vladimir today, we had a wonderful conversation.’,” Trump said. “And she said, ‘Oh really? Another city was just hit.'”
He added of Putin: “I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy.”
Trump said he had believed they had sealed a deal with Putin four times, only for them to fall through.
The US president had last week teased that he would make a “major statement” on Russia on Monday.
Washington has also U-turned from an announcement earlier this month that it would pause some arms deliveries to Kiev, announcing on Sunday that it would send vital Patriot air defence systems.
Trump’s special envoy Keith Kellogg meanwhile arrived in Kiev to meet Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian leader hailed the “productive meeting” and said he was “grateful” to Trump for his support.
One Ukrainian soldier deployed in the war-scarred east of the country, who identified himself by his call sign Grizzly, welcomed Trump’s promise of fresh air defence systems.
“Better late than never,” the 29-year-old told AFP.
Russian forces meanwhile said on Monday they had captured new territory in eastern Ukraine with the seizure of two villages, one in the Donetsk region and another in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Its forces also killed at least three civilians in the eastern Kharkiv and Sumy regions on Monday, regional Ukrainian officials announced.
In Kiev, Zelenskyy also proposed a major political shake-up, recommending Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko take over as the country’s new prime minister.
Svyrydenko said on social media that Ukraine was facing a “crucial time.”