Trump sends weapons to Ukraine, gives Russia 50 days to stop war

US President Donald Trump has announced new weapons for Ukraine on Monday and threatened to hit Russian export buyers with sanctions unless Russia agrees to a peaceful deal in 50 days, a significant shift in policy that was caused by the disappointment.

Sitting side by side with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the Oval Office, Trump told reporters that he was frustrated by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Billions of dollars in weapons will be distributed in Ukraine, he said.

“We will make the top weapons and be sent to NATO,” Trump said, adding that the Washington NATO allies will pay for the weapons.

The weapons would include Air Defense Patriot missiles, which Ukraine urgently tried to defend its cities from Russian air attacks.

“It’s a complete complement to batteries,” Trump said. “We will have some soon, within a few days … some of the countries that have patriots are going to exchange and replace patriots with those they have.”

Some or all 17 Patriot batteries ordered by other countries could be sent to Ukraine “very quickly”, he said.

The threat of imposing so -called secondary sanctions on Russia, if carried out, would be a significant shift in western sanctions policy. Legislators from the two political parties in the United States are pushing for a bill that will allow these measures, targeting other countries buying Russian oil.

Throughout the three -year war, western countries have stopped most of their economic ties with Moscow, but have kept behind measures that will limit Russia from the sale of oil elsewhere. This allowed Moscow to continue to win hundreds of billions of dollars from shipping oil to buyers such as China and India.

Also read: Korea offers Russia full support in Ukraine

“We will do secondary invoices,” Trump said. “If we do not have an agreement in 50 days, it is very simple, and it will be 100%.”

A White House official said Trump refers to 100% invoices in Russian goods as well as secondary sanctions in other countries that buy its exports.

Grace period

Furthermore, Trump’s announcement for a 50 -day grace period was welcomed by investors in Russia, where the ruble was recovered from previous losses and stock markets increased.

“Trump has executed under market expectations, it has given 50 days during which the Russian leadership can find something and expand the negotiation route, in addition, Trump wants to postpone and expand such deadlines,” said Analyst Artyom Nikolayev from Invest Era.

Trump, who returned to power this year, promises a quick end to the war, said his shift was motivated by an increase in frustration with Putin, who, he said, had talked about peace, but continued to hit Ukrainian cities.

Read more: China, Russia are discussing US ties and Ukraine war, Moscow says

“We had a deal four times four times and then the deal would not happen because the bombs would be thrown that night and you would say we made no agreement,” Trump said.

Since returning to the White House, Trump has asked Moscow, talking to Putin several times. His administration has been drawn behind policies in favor of the Ukrainian, such as supporting KIEB’s participation in NATO and Russia’s demand from the whole of Ukrainian territory.

But so far, Putin has not yet received a proposal from Trump for an unconditional ceasefire, which was quickly approved by Kiev. The last few days have seen Russia use hundreds of aircraft to attack Ukrainian cities.

Trump exiled his frustration last week, saying: “We take a lot of shit, he opens a new tab that throws us from Putin.”

Earlier on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held talks with his envoy Trump Kellogg.

Zelenskiy said he had discussed “the march to peace and what we can do together to bring it closer”, including “strengthening Ukraine’s air defense, joint production and supply of defensive weapons in collaboration with Europe”.

An air raid alert was reported to KIEB shortly after Zelenskiy’s talks with Kellogg.

Separate on Monday, Zelenskiy said he would replace his Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal with Shmyhal’s first deputy Yulia Svydenko into “transformation of the executive industry”. Its appointment will require parliamentary approval.

Svyrydenko, 39, is an economist and has previously served as Minister of Finance and Trade and as Deputy Head of Zelenskiy’s office. He played a key role in negotiations between Kiev and Washington in a mineral agreement.

Russia, which began the full -scale invasion in February 2022, holds about one fifth of Ukraine. Its powers are slowly moving to eastern Ukraine, and Moscow shows no sign to abandon the main goals of the war.