The president of the United States, Donald Trump, told his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, this Wednesday, January 22, to reach an agreement to end the war in Ukraine “now” or face tariffs and sanctions.
“If we don’t make a ‘deal’, and soon, I have no choice but to put high levels of taxes, tariffs and penalties on any goods sold by Russia to the United States” and other countries, Trump warned on his Truth social network.
Trump said he is “not looking to harm Russia” and that he “has always had a very good relationship with President Putin,” a leader for whom he has expressed admiration in the past.
“That being said, I am going to do Russia, whose economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR. Agree now and STOP this ridiculous war! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE,” he wrote in capital letters.
On Tuesday, he said at a White House press conference that it seems “likely” he will apply additional sanctions if Putin does not come to the negotiating table.
The US president also declined to say whether he will continue his predecessor Joe Biden’s policy of sending weapons to Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion, launched in February 2022.
“We are examining that,” he declared at the press conference.
“We are talking to (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky, we are going to talk to President Putin very soon,” he said.
Before his inauguration on Monday, Trump had promised to end the war in Ukraine even before taking office, leading to concerns that he could force kyiv to make concessions to Moscow.
In remarks unusually critical of Putin on Monday, Trump said that the Russian president was “destroying Russia by not reaching a deal.”
The Republican added that Zelensky told him he wanted a peace agreement to end the war.
The Russian Army announces new advances in northeastern Ukraine
Russia claimed on Wednesday the capture of the village of Zapadne, in the Kharkov region (northeast), a new advance in the Oskil River area against Ukrainian troops.
“Units of the Western troop grouping have liberated the town of Zapadne in the Kharkiv region,” said the Russian Defense Ministry, whose forces are advancing in several parts of this area and the Eastern Front.
In January, Russian forces managed to establish a bridgehead across the Oskil, a river in eastern Ukraine and a natural barrier that separated the positions of the two sides.
That advance opened the way for an assault on the western part of the Kharkiv region, from which the Russian army was expelled at the end of 2022.
Kremlin troops are now a few kilometers from Kupiansk, a city that had 25,000 inhabitants before the conflict and remains the main Ukrainian stronghold in this area.
kyiv forces are also fighting in the east, around Pokrovsk, a key city for military logistics and the coal industry.
The Russian army is now just a few kilometers from Pokrovsk and is also pressing west towards the neighboring region of Dnipropetrovsk and its capital, Dnipro.
If Russian forces entered this region, it would be the first time since the start of the offensive in Ukraine, on February 24, 2022.
*With information from AFP.
