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United States President Donald Trump threatened to impose “very severe tariffs” on Russia on Monday if a peace settlement to finish the Ukraine struggle shouldn’t be reached within the subsequent 50 days.
Trump has additionally unveiled a brand new settlement to supply Ukraine with extra weapons.
On the marketing campaign path forward of final 12 months’s presidential election, Trump boasted that he would finish the struggle in Ukraine inside his first 24 hours in workplace.
Nevertheless, after no less than six telephone conversations between Trump and his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin, in addition to a number of conferences between US officers and officers from Russia and Ukraine, no ceasefire deal has been reached.
In Could, Putin refused to journey to Istanbul to fulfill with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for peace talks. The 2 international locations despatched delegations as a substitute, leading to prisoner exchange agreements, solely.
So, will Trump’s newest menace persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to alter his stance on Ukraine?
What did Trump say about Russia and Ukraine this week?
Weapons for Ukraine
At a gathering with NATO Secretary-Common Mark Rutte within the Oval Workplace on Monday, Trump mentioned he was “disenchanted” in Putin and that Ukraine would obtain billions of {dollars}’ price of US weapons.
“We’re going to make top-of-the-line weapons, and so they’ll be despatched to NATO,” Trump mentioned, including that NATO would pay for them. He added that this would come with the Patriot air defence missiles that Ukraine has sought urgently.
“We’ve got one nation that has 17 Patriots on the brink of be shipped … We’re going to work a deal the place the 17 will go, or a giant portion of the 17 will go to the struggle website,” Trump mentioned.
New tariffs for Russian items
Trump mentioned if Putin fails to signal a peace take care of Ukraine inside 50 days of Monday this week, he’ll impose “very severe” trade tariffs on Russia, in addition to secondary tariffs on different international locations.
“We’re going to be doing secondary tariffs,” Trump mentioned. “If we don’t have a deal in 50 days, it’s quite simple, and so they’ll be at 100%.”
For the reason that begin of the Ukraine struggle, the US and its allies have imposed no less than 21,692 separate sanctions on Russian people, media organisations and establishments, concentrating on sectors together with the army, vitality, aviation, shipbuilding and telecommunications.
Whereas the commerce relationship between US and Russia could be comparatively marginal, “secondary tariffs” – first threatened by Trump in March however not applied – would have an effect on international locations equivalent to India and China buying Russian oil.
In 2024, Russian oil made up 35 p.c of India’s complete crude imports and 19 p.c of China’s oil imports. Turkiye additionally depends closely on Russian oil, sourcing as much as 58 p.c of its refined petroleum imports from Russia in 2023.
Some Western international locations is also hit by secondary tariffs. In 2024, European international locations spent greater than $700m on Russian uranium merchandise, in line with an evaluation by the Brussels-based assume tank Bruegel, which used information from the European Union’s statistical workplace, Eurostat.
How has Russia responded to Trump’s newest threats?
Putin has not responded personally.
Nevertheless, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov instructed reporters on Tuesday: “The US president’s statements are very critical. A few of them are addressed personally to President Putin. We definitely want time to analyse what was mentioned in Washington.”
Peskov said, nevertheless, that selections made in Washington and different NATO international locations had been “perceived by the Ukrainian facet not as a sign for peace, however as a sign to proceed the struggle”.
Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian president and present deputy chair of Russia’s Safety Council, wrote in an X publish on Tuesday that Russia didn’t care about Trump’s “theatrical ultimatum”.
Trump issued a theatrical ultimatum to the Kremlin.
The world shuddered, anticipating the results.
Belligerent Europe was disenchanted.
Russia didn’t care.— Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) July 15, 2025
Sergei Ryabkov, a senior Russian diplomat, mentioned on Tuesday: “We firstly be aware that any makes an attempt to make calls for – particularly ultimatums – are unacceptable for us,” Russia’s TASS information company reported.
The Russian inventory market appeared untroubled by Trump’s menace, rising 2.7 p.c on Monday, in line with the Moscow Inventory Alternate.
The Russian rouble initially misplaced worth towards the US greenback however then recovered after Trump threatened new tariffs on Russia. Based on information from monetary evaluation group LSEG, the rouble was simply 0.2 p.c weaker on the finish of the day, buying and selling at 78.10 to the US greenback after weakening to 78.75 earlier within the day.
The rouble gained 0.9 p.c to 10.87 towards the Chinese language yuan, probably the most traded overseas foreign money in Russia. This was after it had weakened by greater than 1 p.c on Friday.
Will US weapons assist Ukraine considerably?
Marina Miron, a postdoctoral researcher on the defence research division at King’s Faculty London, instructed Al Jazeera that the Patriot missile techniques that Trump has pledged to promote to Ukraine are long-range air defences greatest fitted to taking pictures down ballistic missiles equivalent to Russia’s Iskander M.
“However Ukraine will want short- to medium-range techniques in addition to a number of rocket launchers as a way to defend itself. So it’s extra of a political transfer for Trump reasonably than the rest,” Miron mentioned.
She added that the importance of those weapons is determined by a number of components, together with whether or not Ukraine will get 17 techniques as allegedly promised, and the place the techniques can be positioned.
How has Trump modified his stance on aiding Ukraine?
A month into his presidential time period, Trump posted on his Reality Social platform, blaming Zelenskyy for persevering with the struggle with Russia and saying the Ukrainian president “talked the US of America into spending $350 Billion {Dollars}, to enter a Warfare that couldn’t be received, that by no means needed to begin”.
The US has despatched Ukraine about $134bn in help to this point – not $350bn – in line with the Kiel Institute for the World Financial system.
Trump’s MAGA (Make America Nice Once more) base has additionally been important of US funding for Ukraine.
In early July, the Trump administration introduced a call to “pause” arms deliveries to Kyiv, however reversed this per week later. When Trump introduced the reversal on July 8, his supporters voiced criticism.
Derrick Evans, one among Trump’s supporters who was among the many throng which stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and who was later arrested however then pardoned by Trump in January this 12 months, wrote on X: “I didn’t vote for this.” Conservative social media duo Keith and Kevin Hodge posted on X: “Who within the hell is telling Trump that we have to ship extra weapons to Ukraine?”
Trump seems to be making an attempt to handle these criticisms by saying that as a substitute of supplying weapons to Ukraine, he’ll promote them to NATO.
Moreover, Miron mentioned, the US shouldn’t be shedding something by promoting weapons, since NATO can be paying for them. “There should not sufficient techniques being supplied to make a considerable distinction,” she mentioned.
Might Trump’s newest threats drive Putin to alter his coverage?
Whereas Putin has repeatedly voiced his willpower to attain his struggle goals, he has not particularly said what they’re. Broadly, he has sought territorial good points inside Ukraine and has opposed Ukraine’s membership in NATO – these haven’t modified and are unlikely to take action, in line with observers.
“In case you had been to explain Russia’s strategy, it’s ‘preserve calm and stick with it,’” Miron mentioned, referring to the truth that most Russian officers haven’t responded to Trump’s menace.
“So they don’t seem to be going for this informational entice,” she mentioned.
Has Putin modified his stance in any respect since Russia invaded Ukraine?
Miron mentioned Putin has expanded his targets since Ukraine’s main cross-border incursion to the Kursk area in August final 12 months. Ukraine’s push into Kursk, which took the Kremlin abruptly, marked probably the most vital Ukrainian assault inside Russian territory because the struggle started.
In Could this 12 months, Russian troops had been tasked with establishing a buffer zone stretching as much as 10km (6 miles) into Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, in line with Ukraine’s army intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov, in an interview with Bloomberg printed on July 11.
“I’ve already mentioned {that a} determination was made to create the required safety buffer zone alongside the border. Our armed forces are presently fixing this drawback. Enemy firing factors are being actively suppressed, the work is beneath approach,” Putin mentioned again then.
Whereas Putin didn’t present a lot element about what the buffer zones would entail, Russian Common Viktor Sobolev mentioned they might permit Russia to push Ukraine’s long-range missiles out of placing vary, Ukrainian media reported.
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