Photo: Mr Trump has previously threatened Russia with massive economic sanctions for its long-range bombardment of Ukrainian cities but did not follow through. Few believe he will carry through his threats, especially since he is being viewed by many as a Russian asset
Donald Trump has threatened to devastate Russia’s economy if Vladimir Putin rejects a proposed 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine.
The US president said on Wednesday that the consequences if Russia snubbed the truce would be “very bad”, but insisted he did not believe it would come to that.
His intervention came after it was reported Putin was prepared to delay any agreement that would slow the momentum of his forces on the battlefield.
Asked about pressuring his Russian counterpart into a deal, Mr Trump said: “Yeah. We can. But I hope it’s not going to be necessary.
“As you know, I’ve always said Ukraine might have been the more difficult party.”
Mr Trump has previously threatened Russia with massive economic sanctions for its long-range bombardment of Ukrainian cities.
“There are things you could do that wouldn’t be pleasant, in a financial sense,” the US president told reporters in the Oval Office.
“I can do things financially that would be very bad for Russia, would be devastating for Russia. But I don’t want to do that because I want peace.”
The proposed temporary ceasefire was thrashed out by Ukrainian and US officials during eight hours of talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday.
US officials had discussed the plans with their Russian counterparts on the telephone, and Steve Witkoff, the US envoy, was going to Moscow this week for talks, the White House said on Wednesday.
On Wednesday night, John Healey, Britain’s Defence Secretary, delivered a message to Putin in which he urged him to “accept the ceasefire”.
Speaking at the Paris Defence Security Forum, Mr Healey said: “These are decisive days for peace in Ukraine. The Ukrainians want peace, we all want peace.
“I say to President Putin: over to you now. You say you want to talk: prove it. Accept the ceasefire, begin negotiations, end the war. Make no mistake, the pressure is now on Putin.”
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, earlier told reporters that Russia was waiting to hear from Washington, and it was expected there would be a phone call between Mr Trump and Putin.
Ukraine’s agreement to support the ceasefire resulted in Washington restarting intelligence-sharing and weapons deliveries immediately.
Yahoo Telegraph