Trump tells Putin to end “ridiculous war” in Ukraine or face new sanctions

Donald Trump has warned that he will impose high tariffs and additional sanctions on Russia if Vladimir Putin fails to end the war in Ukraine.

Writing on his social media platform Truth Social, he said that by pushing for a settlement of the war, he was doing Russia and its president “a very big favor”.

Trump previously said he would negotiate a deal on Russia’s full-scale invasion, which began in February 2022, in one day.

Russia has not yet responded to the remarks, but senior officials have said in recent days that there is little scope for Moscow to deal with the new US administration.

Putin has repeatedly said he is willing to negotiate an end to the war, which first began in 2014, but that Ukraine will have to accept the reality of Russian territorial gains, which are currently about 20 percent of its land. He also refused to allow Ukraine to join NATO.

Kiev does not want to give up its territory, although President Volodymyr Zelensky has admitted that he may have to temporarily cede some of the currently occupied lands.

On Tuesday, Trump said at a news conference that he would be talking to Putin “very soon” and that it “sounds likely” that he will impose more sanctions if the Russian leader does not come to the table.

But in his post on Truth Social on Wednesday, he went further: “I will be doing a big favor to Russia, whose economy is failing, and to President Putin,” he wrote.

“Settle down now and STOP this ridiculous war! IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE. If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no choice but to impose high levels of taxes, tariffs and sanctions on everything Russia sells to the United States and various other countries involved.”

Continuing, he said, “Let’s end this war that would never have started if I were president! We can do it the easy way or the hard way – and the easy way is always better. It’s time to “MAKE” A DEAL.”

Russia’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyansky, told Reuters earlier that the Kremlin would need to know what Trump wanted in a deal to end the war before the country could move forward.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the World Economic Forum on Tuesday that at least 200,000 peacekeepers would be needed in any deal.

And he told Bloomberg that any peacekeeping force for his country would have to include American troops to be a realistic deterrent to Russia.

“It can’t be without the United States… Even if some European friends think it can be, no, it won’t be,” he said, adding that no one else would risk such a move without the US.

While Ukraine’s leaders may appreciate this tougher-talking Trump – they have always said that Putin only understands force – the initial reaction in Kiev to the US president’s comments suggests that it is actions, not words, that people are waiting for.

Trump has not specified where or when more economic sanctions might be targeted. Russian imports into the US have plummeted since 2022, and there are already all kinds of severe restrictions.

Currently, the main Russian exports to the US are phosphate fertilizers and platinum.

There was a generally scathing response from Ukrainians on social media. Many suggest that more sanctions are a weak response to Russian aggression. But the biggest question for most is what Putin is actually willing to discuss with Ukraine at any peace talks.

In Moscow, meanwhile, some see signs that the Kremlin may be preparing Russians to accept less than the “victory” once envisioned, which included tanks rolling as far west as the southern Ukrainian port city of Odessa.

TV editor Margarita Simonyan, who is staunchly pro-Putin, began talking about “realistic” terms for ending the war, which she suggested could include a halt to fighting on the current front line.

That would mean the four Ukrainian regions that Putin illegally declared Russian territory more than two years ago, such as Zaporozhye, are still partially controlled by Kiev.

Russian hardliners, the so-called “Z” bloggers, are furious at such a “defeat”.

In his social media post, Trump framed his threat of tariffs and tougher sanctions with words of “love” for the Russian people and emphasized his respect for Soviet losses in World War II — an almost sacred subject for Putin — although Trump greatly overstated the numbers and seemed to think that the USSR was only Russia. In reality, millions of Ukrainians and other Soviet citizens also lost their lives.

However, the man who earlier said he could “understand” Russia’s concerns about Ukraine joining NATO – which Kiev saw as tantamount to saying Putin was being provoked – appears to be changing his tune.

Trump’s position matters. But after 11 years of war with Russia and a history of poor peace deals, Ukrainians are reluctant to get their hopes up.