DONALD Trump has slashed the 50-day deadline for Vladimir Putin to cut a peace deal down to just the end of next week.
Trump has slammed the tyrant – who has not taken Trump’s peace efforts seriously – saying he was “very disappointed” with him during a press conference with Sir Keir Starmer in Scotland today.
AFPDonald Trump and Sir Keir Starmer met and spoke on Monday in Scotland[/caption]
GettyTrump has said he’s ‘disappointed’ by Putin[/caption]
EPATrump waves from his golf buggy while playing golf at Trump Turnberry golf course[/caption]
Trump said Putin’s new deadline had been reduced down to “10 to 12” days from today, which would be August 6 to 8.
The President is clearly fed up with Vlad’s unwillingness to cut a peace deal and his nightly blitzes that target and kill civilians.
He said: “I’m disappointed in President Putin, very disappointed in him.
“So we’re going to have to look and I’m going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number.”
He later clarified saying: “I’m going to make a new deadline of about 10 or 12 days from today. There’s no reason in waiting, we just don’t see any progress being made.”
Trump said that the US would do secondary sanctions on Russia – slapping sanctions on those who buy oil from Moscow.
But that could all be avoided if Putin cuts a peace deal – which Trump thinks could still happen.
The new deadline will be announced tonight or tomorrow, with Trump saying “there’s no reason to wait”.
He said: “It [peace] should happen fast, so many people are dying.”
Trump also said he is not so interested in speaking to Putin anymore – due to the tyrant consistently bombing Ukraine after peace talks.
The deadline was set to end on September 5, but is now set to end a month earlier.
The Moscow stock market quickly dropped 1.2 per cent at the prospect of massive US sanctions on the economy.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry has said that the “language of ultimatums, blackmail, and threats” is unacceptable to Moscow and that it views the threat of new sanctions as mundane.
A fortnight ago, Trump vowed to slap brutal 100 percent tariffs on Russia if Moscow did not reach a peace agreement with Ukraine within 50 days.
AFPTrump greets the Starmers[/caption]
ReutersTrump and Starmer shake hands as the PM and his wife arrived[/caption]
He also agreed to send US weapons – compromising of “everything” in their arsenal – to Nato so they can distribute them to Kyiv.
The meeting with Mark Rutte marked a shift in US policy more towards backing Ukraine after Vlad did not take peace seriously.
Trump has made getting peace in Ukraine a priority and has talked to Putin directly as he has tried to get him to cut a deal.
But the tyrant has not moved away from his maximalist demands and will only sign a deal that leaves Ukraine defenceless.
Vlad has spent months talking up the prospect of peace, but appears to have alienated Trump after launching huge barrages at Ukrainian civilians.
The Kremlin responded to the deadline at the time saying: “We of course want to understand what is behind this statement – 50 days.
PASpecialist firearms officers on Balmedie Beach[/caption]
APPutin has continued to bomb Ukraine despite saying he wants peace[/caption]
“It used to be 24 hours, it used to be 100 days, we have been through all of this and we really want to understand what motivates the President of the United States.”
Trump’s deadline slashing comes after Putin launched his latest blitz on Ukraine with Poland scrambling jets in response.
Eight people, including a two-year-old girl, were injured in the strikes with shrapnel wounds after one bomb hit an apartment building in the capital.
Volodymyr Zelenksy addressed the latest blitz saying “our sky defenders intercepted several hundred Russian attack drones”.
One person is fighting for their life in a critical condition, while three others were hospitalised.
Explosions were heard in Kyiv at about 10.30pm local time (8.30pm BST), about 15 minutes after air raid sirens went off.
Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that all of the people were residents of a multi-storey apartment building in the city’s Darnytskyi district on the left bank of the Dnipro River.
Trump and Starmer address Gaza horror
Donald Trump also addressed the humanitarian crisis in Gaza with the strip now at risk of a terrible famine.
The President backed Israel which continues to pursue eradicating the vile terror group Hamas.
Trump said: “We’ve as you know given a lot of money to Gaza for food and everything else. A lot of that money is stolen by Hamas and a lot of the food is stolen.
“The whole place is a mess. It’ll get straightened out… Food and safety right now. Hamas did a horrible thing and they’ve paid a big price.”
The President said the priority was getting food to those who were starving and that he was talking to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump said getting the last hostages out would be the most difficult, but the ones who had been to the Oval Office had thanked him for the US’ efforts.
He said: “But I always said when you get down to the final 20 they won’t release them, because that’s like their shield. Very unfair. So something’s going to have to be done. And they were really unwilling to talk.”
Starmer said: “It’s a humanitarian crisis, it’s an absolute catastrophe and nobody wants to see that.
“And I think people in Britain are revolted at what they’re seeing on their screens so we’ve got to get to that ceasefire. And thank you, Mr President, for leading on that.”
GettyTrump has cut the deadline to the end of next week[/caption]