President Donald Trump leveled harsh remarks against Russian President Vladimir Putin, threatening further actions against Russia over Ukraine.
Speaking with NBC News’s Kristen Welker, Trump vented his frustrations over a lack of a deal regarding the war in Ukraine, he revealed on Meet the Press. The president said he was “pissed off” with Putin and threatened to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil.
“I was very angry, pissed off when Putin started getting into Zelensky, his credibility, and started talking about new leadership in Ukraine,” she quoted Trump as saying.
“If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault, which it might not be, but if I think it was Russia’s fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on all oil coming out of Russia,” he said, per the outlet.
Trump’s latest turn was in response to remarks Putin delivered at an Arctic forum on Friday. The Russian president suggested that Moscow could discuss with the U.S., Europe, and Russia’s allies, “under the auspices of the U.N., the possibility of establishing a transitional administration in Ukraine.”
“What for? To organize a democratic presidential election that would result in the coming to power of a competent government that would have the confidence of the people, and then begin negotiations with these authorities on a peace agreement and sign legitimate documents,” Putin added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has had inflammatory words for Putin over the past week as well, suggesting in an interview that he would die soon.
Despite Trump’s criticisms of Putin’s remarks, some reports suggested the Trump administration was in talks with Ukrainian opposition figures after the Feb. 28 Oval Office scuffle, looking for a new Ukrainian president.
High-level talks between Russia and the U.S. have so far failed to produce a meaningful ceasefire. Several partial ceasefires have been negotiated, but both sides have broken them almost immediately.
Grigory Karasin, the head of the Russian delegation to talks with the U.S. in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, last week, told Rossiya-24 that a peace deal may not come “this year or at the end of this year”.
“It would be naive to expect any breakthrough results at the very first meeting,” he said.
ZELENSKY PREDICTS RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR WILL END WITH PUTIN’S DEATH: ‘HE WILL DIE SOON’
Trump’s remarks are some of his harshest toward Putin since taking office. He has chosen a strategy of public neutrality on the Russia-Ukraine war to better broker a peace deal, an approach that has caused friction with Ukraine and Western Europe. Ukraine claims that Russian negotiations are simply a stalling tactic so Moscow can pursue maximalist aims in the war.
Ukrainian intelligence believes Russia will launch a major new multi-pronged offensive in the coming weeks, concentrating on Sumy, Kharkov, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
