US President Donald Trump gestures during a meeting with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in Turnberry, Scotland, on 28 July 2025. Photo: EPA/TOLGA AKMEN / POOL
US President Donald Trump on Monday set a new deadline for Russia to end the war in Ukraine, saying Vladimir Putin had “10 or 12 days” to agree a peace deal or face sanctions and secondary tariffs.
Earlier in July, Trump threatened to impose “very severe” tariffs of up to 100% on countries that traded with Russia should Putin not agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine within 50 days.
During a press conference with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in Scotland on Monday, however, the US president reiterated that he was “very disappointed” with the Russian leader and said there was “no reason in waiting” for his initial deadline to pass as the US had seen “no progress” towards an end to the war from Moscow.
“Russia could be so rich right now,” Trump said. “Instead, they spend all their money on war. They spend everything on war and killing people, and it doesn’t make sense to me. I thought he [Putin] would want to end this thing quickly”.
“Every time I think it’s going to end, he kills people,” the US president continued, adding that he was “not so interested” in holding talks with Putin while Russia continued its attacks on Ukrainian cities.
Writing on X on Monday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed Trump’s remarks as “extremely significant” and hailed the US president’s “clear stance and expressed determination” to end the war.
“Peace is possible if we act strongly and decisively,” Zelensky said in his nightly address to Ukrainians. “We have repeatedly said — and all partners know this — that sanctions are a key element. Russia factors in the sanctions, factors in such losses”.
While there was no formal comment from the Kremlin as of Tuesday morning, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said Trump was playing an “ultimatum game” with Moscow and claimed that each ultimatum was “a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country”.
In a third round of peace talks in Istanbul last week, Russia and Ukraine agreed to a humanitarian exchange involving at least 1,200 prisoners of war, but made little progress on ending the war.
Nevertheless, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Monday that Türkiye would continue to host talks between Russia and Ukraine and expressed his hope that Moscow and Kyiv could reach a peace agreement soon.
“Just as the negotiation table was established in Istanbul, the peace table will also be established in Türkiye in the not-too-distant future, and this bloody war will come to an end”, Erdoğan said.