Donald Trump has threatened Vladimir Putin with high tariffs and sanctions if he does not end the Ukraine war soon, saying: “It’s time to make a deal.”
“I’m not looking to hurt Russia,” the US President said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
But in a direct warning, he told Putin: “Stop this ridiculous war!”
“I love the Russian people, and always had a very good relationship with President Putin,” Trump said noting the Soviet Union’s role in helping the Allies win the Second World War.
He wrote: “It’s only going to get worse. If we don’t make a ‘deal’, and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries.
“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. No more lives should be lost.”
Trump, who returned to the White House on Monday, had previously claimed in 2023 that he could end the conflict in “one day, 24 hours”.
Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said the Kremlin would need to know what Trump wants in a deal before the country moves forward.
“It’s not merely the question of ending the war,” Polyanskiy told Reuters.
“It’s first and foremost the question of addressing root causes of Ukrainian crisis.”
He continued: “So we have to see what does the ‘deal’ mean in President Trump’s understanding.
“He is not responsible for what the US has been doing in Ukraine since 2014, making it ‘anti-Russia’ and preparing for the war with us, but it is in his power now to stop this malicious policy.”
Hours after Trump’s latest remarks, Russia launched a fresh assault on Ukraine, with officials reporting the death of at least one person with 25 more wounded in a drone and missile blitz on the southeastern city Zaporizhzhia.
More than 20,000 residents were also left without power and another 17,000 without heating as a result of the overnight attack, according to Governor Ivan Fedorov, who said an energy facility had been destroyed.
In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine - Europe’s biggest armed conflict since World War II - which has cost tens of thousands of lives on both sides.
Trump has suggested Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s country could receive less support under his presidency and complained about the financial cost to the US.
Trump has sought to use the threat of tariffs to achieve non-trade goals, including threatening Mexico, Canada and China with duties to push them to stop illegal migration and the flow of the deadly opioid fentanyl into the United States.
The Biden administration has already imposed sanctions against entities in China, North Korea and Iran for aiding Russia's war effort.
The negotiating positions of the two warring sides remain far apart, and some Ukrainians fear they could be forced to make massive concessions after three years of brutal combat.
On Tuesday, Trump said his administration was also looking at the issue of sending weapons to Ukraine, adding his view that the European Union should be doing more to support Ukraine.
He added that he had pressed Chinese President Xi Jinping in a call to intervene to stop the conflict.
"He's not done very much on that. He's got a lot of... power, like we have a lot of power. I said, 'You ought to get it settled.' We did discuss it."
