Trump threatens ‘massive sanctions’ for Russia if Ukraine conflict doesn’t end

U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday (August 22, 2025) he would make an “important” decision in two weeks on Ukraine peace efforts — specifying that Moscow could face massive sanctions or he might do nothing.

Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he was “not happy” about a Russian strike on Thursday (August 21, 2025) that hit a U.S.-owned factory in Ukraine “and I’m not happy about anything having to do with that war.”

But he said he wanted to see whether Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy would meet first.

“I think I’ll know. I think I’ll know the attitude of Russia and, frankly, of Ukraine. It takes two,” Mr. Trump said when asked what he would do at the end of a two-week timeframe he set for assessing the state of peace talks.

“Then I’m going to make a decision as to what we do and it’s going to be a very important decision,” he said.

“That’s whether or not it’s massive sanctions or massive tariffs or both. Or do we do nothing and say it’s your fight?” he added.

Mr. Trump — who showed off a picture of him and Mr. Putin at their recent Alaska summit, which he said had been sent by the Kremlin leader — has repeatedly announced timescales of around two weeks for decisions on Ukraine and other issues. Many of those deadlines have failed to materialise.

Also read: Takeaways from Trump-Putin meeting: No agreement, no questions but lots of pomp

Russia on Friday (August 22, 2025) ruled out an immediate meeting with Mr. Zelenskyy, despite Mr. Trump saying on Monday (August 18, 2025) after meeting with the Ukrainian and European leaders that he was arranging a summit.

Mr. Trump said Friday  (August 22, 2025) that setting up a Zelenskyy-Putin summit was as hard as mixing “oil and vinegar.”

“We’re going to see if Putin and Zelensky will be working together. You know, it’s like oil and vinegar, a little bit. They don’t get along too well, for obvious reasons,” he told reporters.

Mr. Trump added “we’ll see” if he would need to attend any such meeting.