Ukraine has praised Donald Trump’s threat to Vladimir Putin to end the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “the hard way” using tariffs and sanctions as sending a “strong signal” to the Kremlin.
In his first major remarks on Ukraine after re-entering the White House, the US president urged Putin to “settle now and stop this ridiculous war” or face intensified sanctions, taxes and tariffs, adding: “We can do it the easy way, or the hard way.”
Responding on Thursday, the Kremlin trioed to downplay the remarks, insisting it saw nothing particularly new in Mr Trump’s threats – with spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claiming that Moscow was ready for an equal and mutually respectful dialogue with the US.
Earlier, Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky had warned that Moscow would have to see what Trump thinks a “deal” to end the war in Ukraine actually means, adding that for the Kremlin it is “first and foremost the question of addressing root causes of Ukrainian crisis.”
But Ukrainian officials welcomed Mr Trump’s intervention, with foreign minister Andrii Sybiha hailing it as sending a “strong signal” to Moscow.
In remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Ukraine’s top diplomat said: “We do really welcome such strong messages from President Trump and we believe that he will be the winner. And we believe that we have an additional chance to get new dynamic in diplomatic efforts to end this war.”
Speaking to The Independent, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s sanctions commissioner Vladyslav Vlasiuk said there are at least 10 areas which Mr Trump can look to target with sanctions in the coming months.
“These can be Russia’s fintech sector, companies involved in the development of e-ruble, central bank digital currency used as an alternative to the SWIFT international payment system Russia is already cut off from, and cryptocurrency payment systems,” he said.
The exchange came as sources in the Kremlin briefed Reuters that Mr Putin believes key war goals in Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine have already been met, amid further claims that the Russian president is growing increasingly concerned about distortions in Russia’s wartime economy.
Asked by reporters about the latter issue, Mr Peskov acknowledged there were “problematic factors” in Russia’s economy, but insisted that Moscow would be able to meet “all military requirements incrementally”, as well as all welfare and social needs.
Also at Davos, Nato chief Mark Rutte warned that a Russian victory over Ukraine would greatly undermine the military alliance’s power and that stopping Putin from threatening members of the alliance would cost far more than supporting Kyiv now.
It would cost trillions to restore Nato’s credibility in the event of a Russian victory, Mr Rutte warned, as he urged Kyiv’s backers not to scale back the support they are providing and claimed that Europe would be willing to foot the bill if Washington continues to supply Ukraine with arms.
"If Ukraine loses then to restore the deterrence of the rest of Nato again, it will be a much, much higher price than what we are contemplating at this moment in terms of ramping up our spending and ramping up our industrial production," Mr Rutte said. "It will not be billions extra; it will be trillions extra".
"We have to change the trajectory of the war," Mr Rutte said, adding that the West "cannot allow in the 21st century that one country invades another country and tries to colonise it".
"We are beyond those days," he said.
On the ground, there were a further 115 clashes reported between Ukrainian and Russian forces along the frontline, Kyiv’s military said in its daily update on Thursday.
As Mr Putin’s troops seeks to maximise their gains in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv’s military said Russia had fired more than 5,200 artillery shells and deployed close to 2,500 kamikaze drones on Wednesday, while carrying out airstrikes in Sumy, Chernihiv, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
In southern Zaporizhzhia, officials said at least one person was killed, dozens wounded and more than 20,000 residents left without power during a six-hour overnight attack by Russia using drones and cruise missiles. A two-month-old baby was among the wounded, Mr Zelensky said.
Speaking to Reuters as he searched the gutted remains of his apartment, a 35-year-old named Serhiy described the attack, saying: “I flew off the couch to get dressed, and, running to the cabinet, I was covered in debris, after which I climbed out and heard my wife screaming.”
