DONALD Trump said he was “disappointed but not done with” Vladimir Putin after announcing his long-awaited crackdown with the Russian warmonger.
Trump hit out again at the Kremlin schemer hours after announcing billions of weapons for Ukraine backed by threats of punishing sanctions if there is no ceasefire in 50 days.
SplashTrump says his patience is wearing thin with Vladimir Putin[/caption]
AFPTrump said he’ll slap Russia with ‘severe’ tariffs if Putin doesn’t strike a peace deal with Ukraine within 50 days[/caption]
GettyUkraine keeps getting blitzed with Russian drone attacks[/caption]
Mad Vlad Putin decided to go one step further yesterday and blow off Trump’s ultimatum by blitzing Kharkiv, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia – with Ukraine also unleashing its own drone blitz.
In a phone interview from the Oval Office also repeated his strong backing for Nato and spoke of his respect for The King and Sir Keir Starmer ahead of his September state visit to the UK.
Trump – for the first time – spoke of his difficulty trusting the duplicitous dictator who has stalled four US attempts to end the 40 months Ukraine bloodbath.
Trump told the BBC: “I thought I had a deal four times.
“I’m not done with him I’m disappointed in him. We thought we had a deal done four time the you go home and find he just attacked a nursing home or something in Kyiv…
“And so what the hell was that all about.”
Trump, who once branded Nato “obsolete,” told the BBC his view has changed.
“No. I think NATO is now becoming the opposite of that,” he said, because members were “paying their own bills.”
He also reaffirmed his support for the alliance’s collective defence principle, saying it helps smaller nations protect themselves against larger threats.
Asked if he trusted Putin, Trump said after a long pause: “I trust almost nobody to be honest with you.”
Interviewer Gary O’Donoghue then pressed: “So how do you deal with someone you can’t trust?”
Trump replied: “It’s not a question of that, it’s like, I’m disappointed that this hasn’t been done.”
Trump’s frustration with Putin boiled over on Monday as he warned of “very severe” 100 per cent secondary tariffs on Russia if it refuses to reach a ceasefire deal within 10 days.
“We’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days,” he said during a meeting with Nato chief Mark Rutte at the White House.
It comes as Putin dared to defy Trump’s ultimatum and unleashed yet another fresh blitz on Ukraine.
In Sumy Oblast, Russian drones deliberately targeted a university, injuring six people including a 19-year-old student and 14-year-old girl.
A separate missile strike in Shostka wounded another teen and damaged a medical facility.
Across Ukraine, at least five people were killed and 53 wounded in 24 hours, according to regional authorities.
Ukraine also launched its own large-scale drone blitz across southwestern Russia, damaging homes, commercial sites, and injuring civilians in the Voronezh and Lipetsk regions.
In Voronezh, 12 drones were intercepted, but falling debris injured several people and damaged apartments and suburban houses, regional Governor Alexander Gusev said.
“Unfortunately, there were injuries,” he confirmed on Telegram.
In Lipetsk, a drone crashed in an industrial area of Yelets, injuring one person, according to regional governor Igor Artamonov.
Russia’s defence ministry claimed 55 drones were shot down overnight across five regions and the Black Sea, including three in Lipetsk.
The extent of the damage is still being assessed, and Ukraine has not commented on the strikes.
Both Kyiv and Moscow deny targeting civilians, but the war — now in its fourth year — has claimed thousands of civilian lives, most of them Ukrainian.
In one of his biggest threats yet, Trump has ordered the deployment of an arsenal of “top-of-the-line” weapons to Nato for immediate delivery to Ukraine.
EPAUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US Special Envoy for Ukraine, General Keith Kellogg, attending a meeting in Kyiv on Monday[/caption]
APPresident Trump met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House, on Monday[/caption]
The package includes long-range missiles capable of hitting Moscow, in what military experts say could shift the balance in the war.
Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a decorated British Army commander, told The Sun: “These weapons can strike Moscow – over 400 miles from the border.
“This will have both psychological as well as physical effects. People in Moscow will realise that they potentially could be targeted.”
Trump’s renewed push to arm Ukraine follows a phone call with Putin in which the Russian leader reportedly vowed to seize full control of Ukraine’s occupied territories within 60 days.
“He wants to take all of it,” Trump told French President Emmanuel Macron, according to a source cited by Axios.
The grim assessment sparked a dramatic shift in policy: Trump intervened to restart US weapons shipments that had been paused and began crafting an expansive new military aid package.
At the White House on Monday, Trump doubled down on his new stance.
“We make the best equipment, the best missiles, the best everything,” he said.
Trump made clear that Nato allies would send their own Patriot systems to Ukraine while the US would replace those for its partners.
Rutte praised the move as a “game changer”, saying it would give Ukraine access to “really massive numbers of military equipment” to defend against Russian air attacks.
“This builds on the tremendous success of the Nato summit,” Rutte said.
“The Europeans are stepping up.”
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has since thanked Trump for the “willingness to support Ukraine and to continue working together to stop the killings”.
Zelensky, who met with US special envoy for Ukraine, General Keith Kellogg on Monday, said he had a “very good conversation” with Trump later in the evening.
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