President Trump said Monday he was setting a new deadline of 10 to 12 days for Russia to make a deal to end its war on Ukraine, increasing pressure on Moscow by shortening his time frame from the original 50 days.
“I’d say 10 to 12 days,” Mr. Trump said during a meeting in Scotland with United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “But there’s no reason to wait. If you know what the answer is going to be, why wait?”
“We just don’t see any progress being made,” the president said.
Mr. Trump said if Russia doesn’t move to make a deal, he’ll impose steep sanctions, including additional tariffs.
“It would be sanctions and maybe tariffs, secondary tariffs,” Mr. Trump said. “I don’t want to do that to Russia. I love the Russian people. They’re great people. I don’t want to do this to Russia.”
When asked about meeting in person with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mr. Trump said, “I’m not so interested in talking anymore.”
“He talks with such nice conversation, such respectful and nice conversations,” Mr. Trump said. “And then, people die the following night with a missile going into a town and hitting.”
Earlier Monday, Mr. Trump expressed skepticism that Mr. Putin would agree to a peace deal. Mr. Trump made clear his frustration with the inability to strike an agreement.
“We are going to have to look and I’m going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number, because I think I already know the answer [to] what’s going to happen,” the president said.
Mr. Trump also repeated his criticism of Mr. Putin, accusing him of talking about ending the war, only to continue bombing Ukraine.
“We thought we had [a peace deal] settled numerous times and then President Putin goes out and starts launching rockets into some city like Kyiv and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever,” Mr. Trump said. “And I say, ‘that’s not the way to do it.’ I’m disappointed in President Putin.”
Earlier this month, Mr. Trump issued an ultimatum to Russia, giving the Kremlin 50 days to accept a peace deal with Ukraine or face bruising sanctions on energy exports. Russia has shown no sign of backing down, however, and is pursuing a summer offensive.
Mr. Putin has repeatedly declared that any peace deal should see Ukraine withdraw from the four regions that Russia annexed in September 2022 but has never fully captured. He also wants Ukraine to renounce its bid to join NATO and accept strict limits on its armed forces, which Kyiv and its Western allies have rejected.
Ukrainian officials welcomed Mr. Trump’s ultimatum, saying it was part of the tough actions needed to target Russia. They also publicly mused that the 50-day deadline was too long.
Russia currently holds about 20% of Ukraine. Ukraine’s depleted army has recently been losing more territory, but there is no sign of a looming collapse on the front lines.