BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom: Against a backdrop of threats Donald Trump made but never followed through and demands ignored by Vladimir Putin without consequences, the United States president issued the latest ultimatum to his Russian counterpart: Make progress toward a ceasefire within 50 days or prepare for tariffs.
It was already a major shift in Mr Trump’s approach to the war in Ukraine, before he dramatically cut his deadline. His ultimatum will now expire on Friday (Aug 8), instead of Sep 2.
This is not the first time that Mr Trump has tried his economic brand of diplomacy on Mr Putin, though he constantly oscillated between pressure on Ukraine and on Russia. On Jan 22, just two days after his return to the White House for a second term, he demanded on Truth Social that Russia “STOP this ridiculous war” or face trade sanctions.
By May, Mr Trump suspected he was being strung along and gave Mr Putin two weeks to respond to his calls for a ceasefire. Vague as this appeared at the time, it was the first time that Mr Trump imposed a concrete timeline.
The Russian president did not blink. On the contrary, Russia intensified both its air and ground campaigns against Ukraine.