Trump to send weapons to Ukraine, threatens sanctions on Russia in 50 days
KYIV/WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump announced new weapons for Ukraine on Monday, and threatened to hit buyers of Russian exports with sanctions unless Russia agrees to a peace deal in 50 days, a major shift in policy brought on by disappointment with Moscow.
Sitting side-by-side with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters that he was disappointed in Russian President Vladimir Putin. Billions of dollars in weapons would be distributed to Ukraine, he said.
"We're going to make top-of-the-line weapons, and they'll be sent to NATO," Trump said, adding that Washington's NATO allies would pay for the weapons.
The weapons would include Patriot air defense missiles which Ukraine has urgently sought to defend its cities from Russian air strikes.
"It's a full complement with the batteries," Trump said when asked whether he would send Patriot missiles specifically.
"We're going to have some come very soon, within days... a couple of the countries that have Patriots are going to swap over and will replace the Patriots with the ones they have."
"We're going to be doing secondary tariffs. If we don't have a deal in 50 days, it's very simple, and they'll be at 100%," Trump said.
A White House official said Trump was referring to 100% tariffs on Russian exports as well as so-called secondary sanctions, which target third countries that buy a country's exports.
Such secondary sanctions are widely seen as likely to have a far more severe impact on Russia's economy than measures that have been imposed previously, which have allowed Russia to continue selling oil to buyers such as China and India, earning hundreds of billions of dollars. — Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
GMA Network
2 hours ago
- GMA Network
Trump announces Indonesia ‘deal' after tariff threats
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he had struck a deal with Indonesia—without providing specifics of the agreement—a week after threatening steeper tariffs on the Southeast Asian country. "Great deal, for everybody, just made with Indonesia," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, saying that he worked with the country's president directly. "DETAILS TO FOLLOW!!!" The Trump administration has been under pressure to finalize trade pacts after promising a flurry of deals, as countries have sought negotiations with Washington to avoid Trump's tariff threats. But the US president has so far only unveiled deals with Britain and Vietnam, alongside an agreement to temporarily lower tit-for-tat levies with China. Last week, Trump renewed his threat of a 32-percent levy on Indonesian goods, saying in a letter to the country's leadership that this level would take effect August 1. It remains unclear what Indonesia's new tariff level will be under the latest deal with Washington, Indonesia's former vice minister for foreign affairs Dino Patti Djalal told a Foreign Policy event Tuesday. But he added that insiders from the Indonesian government indicated they were happy with the new deal, adding that he expected further information in the coming hours. Trump in April imposed a 10-percent tariff on almost all trading partners, while announcing plans to eventually hike this level for dozens of economies, including the European Union and Indonesia. But days before the steeper duties were due to take effect, he pushed the deadline back from July 9 to August 1. This marked his second postponement of the elevated levies. Instead, since the start of last week, Trump began sending out letters to partners, setting out the tariff levels they would face come August. The levy he cited to Indonesia last week was unchanged from the figure he first unveiled in April. To date, Trump has sent more than 20 such letters to partners including the EU, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia. Canada and Mexico, both countries that were not originally targeted in Trump's "reciprocal" tariff push, also received similar documents outlining updated tariffs for their products. But existing exemptions covering goods entering the United States under a North American trade pact are expected to remain in place. Analysts have warned that without trade agreements, Americans could conclude that Trump's strategy to reshape US trading ties with the world has not worked. "In the public's mind, the tariffs are the pain, and the agreements will be the gain. If there are no agreements, people will conclude his strategy was flawed," William Reinsch, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, previously told AFP. — Agence France-Presse
GMA Network
9 hours ago
- GMA Network
Syrian Druze spiritual leader urges local fighters to confront incoming gov't troops
SWEIDA, Syria - A leading Druze spiritual leader accused the Syrian leadership in Damascus of bombarding the southern city of Sweida despite having reached an agreement to quell violence, and he called on fighters to confront Syrian troops entering the city. The video statement by influential Druze Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajri on Tuesday poses a challenge for the government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose forces toppled former leader Bashar al-Assad last December and is seeking to bring all of Syrian territory under centralised rule after nearly 14 years of war that had left the country divided into separate enclaves. For months, Druze leaders said they did not trust the new Syrian government and pushed back against the presence of their troops, saying they would secure Sweida with their own local fighters. Neighbouring Israel also conducted strikes on Syrian troops in Sweida and near Damascus with the stated aim of protecting the Druze minority, which is an offshoot of Islam with adherents in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. But earlier this week, a new round of heavy fighting broke out between Druze armed groups and Bedouin fighters in Sweida province, leaving dozens dead and thousands displaced. Syria's defence and interior ministries dispatched units to quell the fighting and exert control over the province. The Druze spiritual leadership said in a written statement on Tuesday morning that it would allow Syrian forces to enter Sweida city to stop the bloodshed, calling on armed groups to surrender their weapons and cooperate with incoming troops. 'Total war of extermination' But hours later, al-Hajri, who has been strongly opposed to the new leadership in Damascus, said the statement had been "imposed" on them by Damascus and that Syrian troops had breached the arrangement by continuing to fire on residents. "We are being subject to a total war of extermination," he said in a recorded video statement, calling on all Druze "to confront this barbaric campaign with all means available". Convoys of Syrian army tanks, trucks and motorcycles entered parts of Sweida city by mid-morning and were continuing to fire on neighbourhoods there, a Reuters reporter in Sweida said. The reporter said Israeli warplanes could be seen flying above the city, but there were no immediate reports of strikes. On Monday, Israel's military said it had carried out several strikes on tanks approaching Sweida "to prevent their arrival to the area" because they could pose a threat to Israel. Israel said earlier this year that it would not allow Syria's new army to deploy south of Damascus and that Sweida and neighbouring provinces should make up a demilitarized zone. But some of those tensions had calmed after Israel and Syria began direct talks to prevent conflict in the border region between the two longtime foes. — Reuters
GMA Network
10 hours ago
- GMA Network
Russia does not care about Trump's ‘theatrical ultimatum,' senior official says
The US president also expressed frustration with Vladimir Putin, saying he did not want to call the Russian leader "an assassin, but he's a tough guy." REUTERS/ Marcos Brindicci/ File photo MOSCOW — Russia does not care about US President Donald Trump's "theatrical ultimatum" about slapping sanctions on buyers of Russian exports unless Moscow agrees to a peace deal in Ukraine, a senior security official said on Tuesday. Trump, sitting beside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office, on Monday announced new weapons for Ukraine and threatened secondary tariffs of 100% on the buyers of Russian exports, of which crude makes up a major chunk. The US president also expressed frustration with Vladimir Putin, saying he did not want to call the Russian leader "an assassin, but he's a tough guy," in an apparent reference to former US President Joe Biden calling Putin "a killer" in a 2021 interview. "Trump issued a theatrical ultimatum to the Kremlin," former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in a post in English on X. "The world shuddered, expecting the consequences. Belligerent Europe was disappointed. Russia didn't care." The Kremlin has so far not commented on Trump's remarks, but said on Monday it was clear that the United States had continued to supply weapons and ammunition to Ukraine. In Moscow, state television broadcasts led with advances by Russian troops in Ukraine, of which Russian forces control just under a fifth, and an attack on Russia by Ukrainian drones which injured 18 people. State television reports on Trump's remarks focused on the time it would take for Patriot missile systems to arrive in Ukraine and domestic US concerns that the conflict could escalate, then turned to a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Kommersant, one of Russia's most respected newspapers, invoked William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" in its front page headline to suggest betrayal: "Et tu, Trump—the main peacekeeper of Ukrainian conflict joined the 'party of war'." Trump told the BBC that he was "not done" with Putin and that he thought a Ukraine peace deal was on the cards. War, oil and peace Putin has repeatedly said he is ready to make peace - but on his terms - and that there is no point even considering a ceasefire until the details of what a peace would look like are nailed down. European powers and Ukrainian officials say they do not believe Putin is serious about peace and have implored Trump to abandon his efforts to repair relations with the Kremlin. In Washington, a White House official said Trump's intention is to impose "100% tariffs on Russia" and secondary sanctions on other countries that buy oil from Russia if a peace deal is not struck in 50 days. Eighty-five of the 100 US senators are co-sponsoring a bill that would give Trump the authority to impose 500% tariffs on any country that helps Russia, but the chamber's Republican leaders have been waiting for him to give them the go-ahead for a vote. China, India and Turkey are the biggest buyers of crude from Russia, the world's second largest exporter of oil after Saudi Arabia. It is unclear how those countries would react if they faced secondary sanctions for their purchases of Russian oil. Russia exports about 5 million barrels of oil per day. — Reuters
