By Agence France-Presse
U.S. President Donald Trump told Russia on Monday, July 14, 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 Kyiv via the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Trump said he was “very, very unhappy” with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, underlining his insistence that his patience had finally snapped with the Russian leader’s refusal to end the deadly conflict.
Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, “We’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days, tariffs at about 100 percent.”
The Republican added that they would be “secondary tariffs” that target Russia’s remaining trade partners—seeking to cripple Moscow’s ability to survive already sweeping Western sanctions.
Russia’s top trading partner last year was China, accounting for about 34 percent, followed distantly by India, Turkey, and Belarus, according to the Russian Federal Customs Service.
Trump and Rutte also unveiled a deal under which the NATO military alliance would buy billions of dollars of arms from the United States—including Patriot anti-missile batteries—and then send them to Ukraine.
Rutte said, as he touted a deal aimed at easing Trump’s long-held complaints that the U.S. is paying more than European and NATO allies to aid Ukraine, “This is really big.”
The NATO chief added that Germany, Canada, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Britain were among the buyers helping Ukraine.
Rutte said, “If I was Vladimir Putin today and heard you speaking… I would reconsider that I should take negotiations about Ukraine more seriously.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced he had spoken with Trump and was “grateful” for the arms deal.
‘Very long time’
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Berlin would play a “decisive role” in the new weapons plan.
But EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Trump’s sanctions deadline was too far into the future. She said, “Fifty days is a very long time if we see that they are killing innocent civilians every day.”
Trump attempted a rapprochement with Putin shortly after starting his second term, having campaigned on a pledge to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours.
His pivot towards Putin sparked fears in Kyiv that he was about to sell out Ukraine, especially after Trump and his team berated Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on February 28.
But in recent weeks, Trump has shown increasing frustration with Putin, as the Russian leader stepped up missile and drone attacks to record levels instead of halting his invasion. Washington has also U-turned from an announcement earlier this month that it would pause some arms deliveries to Kyiv.
Trump said his wife Melania had helped change 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.”
‘Better late than never’
U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, who are pushing a bipartisan bill on Russia’s secondary sanctions, praised Trump’s “powerful” move.
They said in a statement, “The ultimate hammer to bring about the end of this war will be tariffs against countries, like China, India, and Brazil, that prop up Putin’s war machine.”
Trump’s special envoy Keith Kellogg arrived in Kyiv on Monday, July 14, for what Zelenskyy called a “productive meeting.”
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 defense systems. The 29-year-old told AFP, “Better late than never.”
Meanwhile, Russian forces said on Monday that they had captured new territory in eastern Ukraine with the seizure of one village 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, Ukrainian officials said.
In Kyiv, Zelenskyy also proposed a major political shake-up, recommending economy minister Yulia Svyrydenko take over as new prime minister, and appointing current premier Prime Minister Denys Shmygal as defense minister.
