US President Donald Trump issued on Monday a dramatic new ultimatum to Russia to end the war in Ukraine or face tough new sanctions, as he met UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland.
Trump told reporters that he was not very interested in talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin anymore, underscoring his mounting frustration with his counterpart in Moscow.
Trump, sitting alongside Starmer at the US leader's luxury golf resort in Turnberry, south of Glasgow, said he was"very disappointed" with Putin over continued strikes against Ukrainian civilian targets.
He announced that he was reducing an earlier 50-day deadline for Putin to bring the Ukraine conflict to an end to"about 10 or 12 days", starting immediately.
"There is no reason in waiting," Trump said, adding he thought Putin would want to end things quick.
"I really felt it was going to end. But every time I think it's going to end he kills people.
"I'm not so interested in talking (to him) anymore," he added.
Trump said sanctions and tariffs would be used as penalties for Moscow if it did not meet his demands.
"There's no reason to wait. If you know what the answer is going to be, why wait? And it would be sanctions and maybe tariffs, secondary tariffs," Trump said."I don't want to do that to Russia. I love the Russian people."
Ukraine swiftly praised the US president's stand and thanked Trump for "standing firm and delivering a clear message of peace through strength".
"When America leads with strength, others think twice," Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak said on social media.
Ukraine had proposed a summit between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before the end of August, but the Kremlin has said that timeline was unlikely and that a meeting could only happen as a final step to clinch peace.
Russia's foreign ministry said on Saturday that if the West wanted real peace with Ukraine, it would stop supplying Kyiv with weapons.
The comments came after Trump and Starmer held a bilateral meeting that focused on ending the suffering in Gaza and reviving stalled ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas.
The pair also discussed the implementation of a UK-US trade deal that was signed on May 8 that lowered tariffs for certain UK exports but has yet to come into force.
Trump hosted Starmer and his wife Victoria under tight security at Turnberry, where he had spent two days playing golf since landing in Scotland on Friday night for a five-day visit.
After their meeting, Trump and Starmer were to travel to Aberdeen in Scotland's northeast, where the US president is to open a new golf course at his resort on Tuesday.
Trump played golf at Turnberry on Saturday and Sunday on a five-day visit that has mixed leisure with diplomacy, and also further blurred the lines between the presidency and his business interests.
