President Trump said Sunday that he’s ready to ramp up sanctions against Russia after Moscow launched the largest aerial attack of the war with Ukraine, indicating his frustration with the conflict that he had hoped to resolve months ago.
Asked by a White House reporter if he is prepared to move to the second stage of sanctions against Russia, Mr. Trump replied, “Yeah, I am,” before leaving for New York City to attend the U.S. Open.
His terse response came after Russia, in its largest strike since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, launched 810 drones and decoys, along with 13 missiles, damaging for the first time the Cabinet of Ministers building in Kyiv.
Ukraine’s air force said on Telegram that it shot down 747 drones and four missiles in response to what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned as a “ruthless” attack, which left at least four people dead and 44 injured.
Mr. Trump gave no details on what a second-stage escalation would look like, but he pressed European leaders last week to stop buying Russian oil and natural gas as he seeks to intensify economic pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr. Zelenskyy said in an interview released Sunday that weaning Europe off Russian energy is key to shutting down the conflict with Mr. Putin, saying that “energy is his weapon.”
“I said that I think that President Trump is right about the Europeans — I am very thankful to all the partners,” he told ABC News “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz. “But some of them, I mean, they continue to buy oil and Russian gas. And this is not fair if — to be clear, it’s not fair. So we have to stop buying any kind of energy from Russia.”
He added that “by the way, anything — any deals with Russia, we can’t have any deals if we want to stop them.”
The Russian air strike comes less than a month after Mr. Trump was unable to convince Mr. Putin to agree to a temporary ceasefire at their summit in Alaska. Mr. Zelenskyy was not invited, which he called “a pity.”
He also said that Mr. Trump “gave Putin what he wanted.”
“He wanted very much to meet with President Trump, with the president of the United States,” Mr. Zelenskyy said. “And I think that Putin got it. And it’s a pity. Putin doesn’t want to meet with me, but he wants very much to meet with the president of the United States, to show everybody video and images that he is there.”
After Ms. Raddatz said that Mr. Putin “said he will meet if you go to Moscow,” Mr. Zelenskyy replied, “He can come to Kyiv.”
“I can’t go to Moscow under — when my country is under missiles, under attacks each day. I can’t go to this capital of this terrorist,” he said. “It’s understandable. And he understands it.”
Mr. Zelenskyy added that “I always said we can’t trust Putin. He plays games and he’s playing games with the United States.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the Russian strike, saying that for “the first time, the heart of Ukraine’s civilian government was damaged.”
“These cowardly strikes show that Putin believes he can act with impunity. He is not serious about peace,” Mr. Starmer said in a Sunday statement. “Now, more than ever, we must stand firm in our support for Ukraine and its sovereignty.”
– This story was based in part on wire service reports.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.