US President Donald Trump has said he will shorten a 50-day deadline imposed on Moscow to end the war in Ukraine to avoid sanctions to “10 or 12 days”.
“I’m disappointed in President Putin,” he said, speaking alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ahead of their meeting in Scotland. “I’m going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number.”
Just an hour later, Trump reporters that this would be cut to “10 or 12 days” from now – meaning the deadline would be either August 5 or 7.
Trump previously set a 50-day deadline starting 14 July for Putin to avoid what he described as “very severe tariffs” during a meeting in the Oval Office with Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that any peace deal requires Ukraine to withdraw from the four regions illegally annexed by Moscow in September 2022, which Russia never fully captured.
It comes after Russian forces downed nearly 100 Ukrainian drones over several regions from Saturday night into Sunday. The drone threat also forced the shutdown of St Petersburg Pulkovo airport, leading to the suspension of dozens of flights in the early hours of Sunday.
