‘A lot of bulls---’: Trump blasts Putin, threatens new Russia sanctions

London: US President Donald Trump has blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin for spreading “bullshit” about the war in Ukraine and delaying moves to a ceasefire, signalling he may impose tougher sanctions on Russia to try to end the conflict.

Trump declared he was willing to back a bill that would impose sanctions or tariffs on Russia and countries that have helped it in the war, amid growing concerns in Europe about weapons and technology coming from Iran and China.

Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.Credit: AP

The dramatic shift came with a strong sense of Trump’s personal frustration with Putin, hours after Trump told reporters he would send more defensive weapons to Ukraine, reversing a weapons freeze imposed by the Pentagon only six days earlier.

The Wall Street Journal also reported that Trump was considering sending another Patriot missile defence system to Ukraine – the equipment Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has sought for months and which was denied again last week.

“I’m not happy with Putin. I can tell you that much right now,” Trump said, as reporters covered his remarks during a cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday, Washington time.

“We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin. He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”

The remarks are the latest in a series of comments that put Trump at odds with Putin, but there was no detail on the sanctions the US administration would consider.

Trump said he was considering whether to support a bill in the Senate that would impose steep sanctions on Russia over the war.

“I’m looking at it very strongly,” he told the reporters.

The bill, whose lead sponsors are Republican senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, would also punish countries that trade with Moscow, imposing 500 per cent tariffs on nations that buy Russian oil.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and Trump during a cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday.Credit: Bloomberg

The frustration with Putin during the cabinet meeting came hours after Trump declared he would send more weapons to help Ukraine defend itself, days after the Pentagon froze supplies of air defence missiles.

The Pentagon, which announced the freeze last week, confirmed that it was sending “additional defensive weapons” after Trump revealed his thinking during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday AEST.

“We’re going to send some more weapons. We have to. They have to be able to defend themselves,” Trump said of Ukraine.

“They’re getting hit very hard now. We’re going to have to send more weapons, defensive weapons, primarily.”

Ukrainian rescue workers put out a fire in a building hit by a Russian drone strike in Zaporizhzhia on Monday.Credit: AP

Ukraine expressed dismay last week when news spread about the Pentagon freeze, first reported by news site Politico, which said the decision was driven by senior Pentagon official Elbridge Colby.

Colby, one of the strongest advocates for an “America first” weapons strategy, is also conducting the snap review of the AUKUS pact, raising concerns that Trump will scale back support for the submarine plan.

The Pentagon confirmed Trump’s decision after his remarks on Monday but did not release details about the types of weapons to be sent.

“At President Trump’s direction, the Department of Defence is sending additional defensive weapons to Ukraine to ensure the Ukrainians can defend themselves while we work to secure a lasting peace and ensure the killing stops,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.

Intensified attacks

Russia has scaled up its attacks on Ukraine after Trump urged both sides to agree to a truce. Zelensky has agreed to a ceasefire and has called for direct talks with Putin.

Over the past week, Russia launched an estimated 1270 drones, 39 missiles and almost 1000 powerful glide bombs at Ukraine, the Ukrainian president said on Monday.

Trump told Zelensky in a telephone call last Friday that he wasn’t responsible for the halt in weapons shipments to Kyiv, The Wall Street Journal reported.

While Trump has often praised Putin and repeatedly claimed he could get the Russian leader to end the war in Ukraine, he expressed frustration on Monday at the continued fighting.

“I’m not happy with President Putin at all,” he said.

That remark followed a comment before the NATO summit in Europe last month when Trump, speaking on Air Force One, told reporters about a conversation with the Russian leader. 

Trump said: “Vladimir called me up, he said: ‘Can I help you with Iran?’ I said: ‘No, I don’t need help with Iran, I need help with you’.”

Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa called an urgent meeting in Kyiv with the top US diplomat to Ukraine, John Ginkel, last Wednesday to warn of the danger from the slowdown in arms deliveries.

“The Ukrainian side emphasised that any delay or slowing down in supporting Ukraine’s defence capabilities would only encourage the aggressor to continue war and terror, rather than seek peace,” Betsa said in a statement after the meeting.

‘Challenge on our hands’

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron will hold a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing on Thursday in London to discuss options for sending peacekeepers to Ukraine if there is a ceasefire.

NATO members are struggling to produce enough air defence missiles and other armaments; however, Russia is ramping up production of missiles and drones.

Mark Rutte, the secretary-general of NATO, warned at the weekend that European countries needed a bigger industrial base to produce the weapons to defend themselves as well as Ukraine.

“We have an enormous geopolitical challenge on our hands,” Rutte told The New York Times. “And that is, first of all, Russia, which is reconstituting itself at a pace and a speed which is unparalleled in recent history. They are now producing three times as much ammunition in three months as the whole of NATO is doing in a year.”

With Reuters, AP

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