World

Trump threatens sanctions against Russia if Putin refuses Ukraine talks

Trump says he had pressed Chinese President Xi Jinping in a call to intervene to stop the Ukraine war

By Reuters

January 22, 2025

President Donald Trump speaks next to Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman after delivering remarks on AI infrastructure, at the Roosevelt room at White House in Washington, US, January 21, 2025. — Reuters

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would impose sanctions on Russia if its president, Vladimir Putin, refuses to negotiate about ending the war in Ukraine.

Trump gave no details on possible additional sanctions. The United States has already sanctioned Russia heavily for its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Trump said his administration was also looking at the issue of sending weapons to Ukraine, adding his view that the European Union should be doing more to support Ukraine.

"We're talking to (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskiy, we're going to be talking with President Putin very soon," Trump said. "We're going to look at it."

Trump said he had pressed Chinese President Xi Jinping in a call to intervene to stop the Ukraine war.

"He's not done very much on that. He's got a lot of ... power, like we have a lot of power. I said, 'You ought to get it settled.' We did discuss it."