Trump warns Putin about war in Ukraine

2025-01-22 13:18:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

US President Donald Trump has suggested he will hit Russia with additional sanctions if President Vladimir Putin does not accept peace talks to end the war in Ukraine, while he called on Chinese leader Xi Jinping in a phone call to help stop the conflict.

"It looks like it is," Trump told reporters at the White House on January 21, when asked whether Washington would impose new sanctions on Russia if Putin did not join the negotiating table.

Trump has not offered details on the possible new measures, which would be added to a raft of sanctions that already target Russia for its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The US president has reiterated his intention to talk with Putin in the short term, but without mentioning a timeframe.

"We are talking to [Ukrainian leader Volodymyr] Zelensky. We will talk to President Putin very soon. We will see."

Trump said on January 20 that Zelensky had told him he wanted a peace deal to end the war. Referring to Putin's close ally, Chinese leader Xi, Trump said he had urged him to help end the brutal war.

"He hasn't done much in this regard. He has a lot of... power, just like we have a lot of power. I said, 'You have to solve it.' We discussed it," Trump said.

The US president has also said that his team is looking into the possibility of sending additional weapons to Ukraine.

During his presidential campaign, Trump spoke out strongly against the level of aid provided by President Joe Biden's administration.

However, Trump has said time and again that he is open to the idea of ??a credit program, under which Ukraine would pay the US for arms shipments.

In his latest statements, he has also reiterated his position that other allies should increase their spending on Ukraine's defense, calling on the European Union to "match" aid provided by the United States.

Trump's comments came on the second day of his new term in the White House, and represent the second day in a row in which he has appeared to pressure Putin - whom he has often praised - to move forward with peace negotiations.

During the election campaign, Trump pledged to end the war within 24 hours of taking office. He has backed away from those statements in recent weeks, but has vowed to end the war quickly.

Many analysts have said that it will be difficult for the war in Ukraine to end in the near future because Putin believes he is winning and is not interested in stopping the fighting, despite the heavy losses Russia is suffering.

The night before, the US president said that Putin is "destroying" Russia by refusing to reach an agreement to end the war in Ukraine.

Russia's foreign policy adviser, Yury Ushakov, told reporters that Moscow was "taking into account" Trump's comments, but declined to provide details, adding that the Kremlin was waiting for "concrete proposals that would form the basis for contacts."

Sanctions already imposed by the United States and the EU have crippled the Russian economy. Russia has also burned through hundreds of billions of dollars on the war, lost some 700,000 soldiers and intimidated its neighbors, while sacrificing the lucrative European gas market and access to Western financial markets, as the ruble has plummeted in value./ Rel