U.S. President Donald Trump warned Tuesday that Russia has until Aug. 8 to make peace with Ukraine or face a new round of sanctions.
“Ten days from today,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One when asked to clarify his new deadline for ending the war in Ukraine.
Trump, who was flying back from the United Kingdom to Washington, had accused President Vladimir Putin on Monday of holding “nice and respectful conversations” while continuing to “launch rockets” at Ukrainian cities. He said he would shorten his previous 50-day deadline for ending the war to 10-12 days, warning of new sanctions and possible secondary tariffs.
The Kremlin said earlier on Tuesday that it had “taken into account” Trump’s ultimatum, but declined to comment on the prospect of new sanctions. Top spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the war against Ukraine would continue regardless of the threats coming from the U.S. president.
On Wednesday, Peskov brushed off Trump’s latest comments, telling reports that “we’ve lived under heavy sanctions for quite some time now.”
Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he had not received any response from Putin about his new peace deadline, calling it “a shame.”
“We’re going to put on tariffs and stuff,” he said. “I don't know if it’s going to affect Russia because, obviously, [Putin] wants to keep the war going... It may or may not affect them, but it could.”
The remarks mark a significant shift in tone from earlier this year, when Trump repeatedly expressed confidence in Putin’s willingness to negotiate peace and clashed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
But after months of sluggish peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, which have yielded only routine prisoner exchanges, frustration is mounting within the Trump administration.
At the same time, U.S.-Russia discussions aimed at restoring regular diplomatic operations have stalled. The Kremlin on Tuesday appeared to blame Washington for the impasse, saying the talks are “going nowhere fast.”
AFP contributed reporting.
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