DONALD Trump has said his patience is “running out fast” with Vladimir Putin but that he won’t impose sanctions just yet.
Trump revealed his frustrations at Russian leader Vladimir Putin just days after Russian drones breached Polish airspace.
SplashTrump said his patience with Russia is ‘running out’[/caption]
Fox NewsTrump was interviewed on Fox News on Friday[/caption]
ReutersMoscow announced they would step back from peace talks with Ukraine on Friday[/caption]
The provocation drew the ire of the US president, who said he had given Putin several deadlines to step back from the three-year conflict.
Appearing on Fox News on Friday, Trump’s comments come just hours after Moscow announced that peace negotiations with Ukraine were “on pause”.
Trump stopped short of threatening Moscow with sanctions and is yet to impose any other penalty on the country.
The President said he had a long and good relationship with Putin, but that he would “come down very, very strong”, saying sanctions on banks and oil were an option he was considering.
“But I’ve already done a lot,” he said, referring to potential tariffs on India.
India is one of the biggest buyers of Russian oil and currently faces a 50 per cent tariff on exports to the US.
“That’s not an easy thing to do,” he said.
“That’s a big deal and it causes a rift with India.
“And remember this, this is a Europe problem, much more than our problem.”
Polish air defences and NATO launched into action on Wednesday, after 19 objects entered Poland’s airspace.
Some of the objects included drones entering from across the Belarus border.
Moscow has since denied responsibility for the operation.
Trump was reluctant to place the blame for the drone invasion on Putin.
“I’m not going to defend anyone but … they were actually knocked down and fell,” he said.
“Putin shouldn’t be close to Poland anyway.”
Polish prime minister Donald Tusk was less forgiving, denying Trump’s suggestion that Russian drones breaching Polish airspace could have been a “mistake”.
“[This was] the closest we have been to open conflict since World War II,” Tusk said.
Polish and Dutch jets shot three or four drones down on Wednesday.
GettyTrump suggested the Russian breach on Polish airspace was a ‘mistake’[/caption]
AFPPolish prime minister Donald Tusk denied it was a ‘mistake’, saying it was as close to open conflict as Europe had been since WWII[/caption]
Despite Russian hesitation in peace talks, Trump still laid blame at Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s feet.
“It does take two to tango,” he said.
“When Putin [wanted] to do it, Zelensky didn’t.
“Now Zelensky wants to and Putin is a question mark,” he added.
“We’re going to have to come down very, very strong.”
APOne of the Russian drones destroyed a Polish home on Wednesday[/caption]