President Trump said he would help Europe speed more weapons to Ukraine and warned Russia that if it did not agree to a peace deal within 50 days, he would impose a new round of punishing sanctions.
Speaking from the Oval Office, where he met with NATO’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, Mr. Trump said the weapons would be “quickly distributed to the battlefield.” He also threatened to impose secondary sanctions, which are penalties imposed on other countries or parties that trade with nations under sanctions.
“I’m disappointed in President Putin, because I thought we would have had a deal two months ago, but it doesn’t seem to get there,” Mr. Trump said.
“It’s just the way it is,” he added. “I hope we don’t have to do it.”
Mr. Trump, who has dodged questions about whether he thought President Vladimir V. Putin has sought to prolong the war, was quick to say that he didn’t believe he was being played by the Russian leader. Russia, which launched an unprovoked invasion on Ukraine in 2022, has escalated its attacks on Ukraine amid peace negotiations.
“My conversations with him are very pleasant, and then the missiles go off at night,” said Mr. Trump, who indicated that Mr. Putin had repeatedly backed out of deals to bring an end to the three-year war.
“He’s fooled a lot of people,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Putin, who he called a “tough guy.” “He fooled Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden — he didn’t fool me,” Mr. Trump said.
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