President Donald Trump snapped at a reporter who asked him how far he’s willing to go against Russia if Vladimir Putin escalates the war in the Ukraine.
‘Don’t ask me a question like that,’ Trump snapped in response. ‘They’re not Americans dying, but there are a lot of people dying and on something that should be able to be settled. We all agree with that.’
Trump has shown increased impatience with Putin’s refusal to come to the table and talk about a ceasefire. He threatened to slap 100 percent tariffs on Russia in 50 days if a deal to end the war isn’t reached.
‘We are very, very unhappy with [Russia], and we’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days, tariffs at about 100 percent,’ he said in the Oval Office.
‘I’m disappointed in President Putin. I thought we would’ve had a deal two months ago,’ he went on about the proposed peace deal.
Ahead of his meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Trump tore into Putin, saying the Russian president ‘talks nice, and then he bombs everybody.’
‘Putin had really surprised a lot of people. He talks nice, and then he bombs everybody in the evening. It’s a little bit of a problem there, I don’t like it,’ Trump told reporters on Sunday.
Putin has ignored Trump’s call for a ceasefire and ratchet up his attacks on Ukraine, sending more than 500 drones and missiles almost daily. Trump, for weeks, has been showing his frustration with the Russian leader’s refusal to stand down and come to peace talks.
President Donald Trump expressed more frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin as he pushes for a ceasefire in Ukraine
Additionally, Trump confirmed that he’s sending American weapons to Ukraine and that the U.S. will not be paying for them.
He made a deal with NATO to send sophisticated weaponry, including Patriot missiles, to Ukraine.
He insisted that the U.S. will not be footing the bill after being taken advantage of for so long.
‘We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending [Ukraine] weapons and [Europe] is going to be paying for them,’ he stated.
‘We – the United States – will not be having any payment made. We’re not buying it, but we will manufacture it, and they’re going to be paying for it.’
The president is angry at Russia and ready to arm Ukraine, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally, said.
‘In the coming days, you´ll see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves,’ Graham said Sunday on CBS’ Face the Nation.
‘One of the biggest miscalculations Putin has made is to play Trump. And you just watch, in the coming days and weeks, there´s going to be a massive effort to get Putin to the table.’
Russian President Vladimir Putin has increased his bombardment of Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) and United States Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Joseph Keith Kellogg (right) talk in Kyiv
Europe and NATO also are pushing for Russia and Ukraine to come to the table.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is scheduled to Washington Monday for a meeting Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Berlin has offered to pay for Patriot systems for Ukraine and arming Kyiv is expected to be the major topic of conversation.
Meanwhile, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Trump envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv.
The duo had ‘a productive conversation’ about strengthening Ukrainian air defenses, purchasing U.S. weapons, and sanctions on Russia, Zelensky said.
‘We hope for the leadership of the United States, because it is clear that Moscow will not stop unless its … ambitions are stopped by force,’ the Ukraine president said in a statement.
June brought the highest monthly civilian casualties in Ukraine of the past three years, with 232 people killed and 1,343 wounded, according to the UN.
