U.S. President Donald Trump has issued a two-week ultimatum to Russia, threatening new sanctions or tariffs unless progress is made toward peace in Ukraine.
Speaking at the White House, Trump voiced his dissatisfaction with Moscow just days after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. “We’ll decide what to do, and it will be a very important decision—whether heavy sanctions, high tariffs, both, or nothing at all and we say, ‘It’s your problem,’” he told reporters.
Trump also condemned Russia’s recent strike on an American-owned factory in Ukraine, which caused a fire and injuries to workers. “I’m not happy at all with this, or with anything about this war,” he said.
Zelensky Pushes for Talks
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly urged a direct meeting with Putin, insisting it is the only path to ending the conflict. On Friday, he accused Russia of deliberately stalling. “Because they don’t want the war to end, they will keep finding ways to avoid it,” Zelensky said during a press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Kyiv.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov countered that no summit could take place without an agreed agenda. “Putin is ready to meet when the agenda is ready. At the moment, there is none,” he told NBC.
Trump, asked about the stalemate, compared the two leaders’ relationship to “oil and vinegar,” adding: “They don’t get along for obvious reasons.”
Putin and the 2026 World Cup
The U.S. president also brandished a photo from his recent Alaska meeting with Putin, suggesting the Russian leader hopes to attend the 2026 World Cup in the United States. “He may come, he may not—we’ll see,” Trump said, though Russia remains banned from international competitions following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
For his part, Putin praised Trump’s leadership during a visit to a nuclear research center, saying he saw “a light at the end of the tunnel” in U.S.-Russia relations.
The Battlefield Situation
Fighting in Ukraine remains intense more than three years after Russia’s invasion. Analysts estimate over a million soldiers on both sides have been killed or wounded, while civilians continue to suffer from strikes on energy facilities and infrastructure.
Russia maintains its demand that Ukraine cede control of occupied eastern territories, while proposing to “freeze” the front line in two southern regions. Zelensky has dropped his insistence on a long ceasefire as a precondition for talks but stressed that Kyiv cannot negotiate “under the barrel of a gun.”
NATO allies, meanwhile, are working with Ukraine on long-term security guarantees. Rutte emphasized that these assurances must be strong enough to deter any future Russian aggression. “Robust security guarantees are essential, and that is what we are finalizing,” he said.
Source: tovima.com
