Trump says he will shorten Ukraine peace deadline

The US president previously said he would impose new sanctions against Moscow if no deal is reached in 50 days

US President Donald Trump has warned he will reduce the time frame he had set for Moscow and Kiev to settle the Ukraine conflict. He had previously demanded the sides reach an agreement in 50 days, threatening to impose additional sanctions against Russia otherwise. 

The set of punitive measures announced by Washington would involve secondary sanctions, including tariffs on countries and entities doing business with Russia. Trump’s initial deadline was due to expire in early September.

“I’m going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him (Putin) to a lesser number, because I think I already know the answer what’s going to happen,” Trump told journalists in Scotland ahead of a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The American leader claimed he had been close to reaching a ceasefire deal on Ukraine conflict with Russian President Vladimir Putin five times. “I’ve spoken to President Putin a lot, I’ve gotten along with him very well,” he said, while accusing Moscow of launching strikes against Ukrainian cities and stating that he was “very disappointed” with the Russian leadership.

Moscow has stated throughout the conflict that it is open for dialogue and could start negotiations without preconditions, as long as the situation on the ground is taken into account and the root causes of the conflict are addressed during the talks. It also said Trump’s new sanctions threats serve primarily “as signals to continue war” for Ukraine and called on Washington to put pressure on Kiev instead.

Any new sanctions, including the secondary ones, would not affect Russia’s policy as Moscow would “continue to move along our independent, sovereign, and sustained path,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in response to Trump’s previous threats.

The US president said earlier this week that he could potentially impose the announced sanctions before the previously declared deadline.

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