Trump gives Putin two-week ceasefire DEADLINE as tyrant masses 50k troops at border – but will new talks stop bloodbath?
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
A FRUSTRATED Donald Trump has issued Vladimir Putin a two-week deadline for a ceasefire - warning of a different response if Putin is "tapping us along".
The US president's ultimatum comes as Russia launches its deadliest strikes yet on Ukraine, with Kyiv fearing Moscow is massing troops for a major new offensive.
3
Donald Trump has given Putin a two-week ceasefire deadline
3
A Ukrainian firefighter at the site of a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on the Sumy region
Credit: Reuters
3
Trump said in the Oval Office on Wednesday: 'I'm very disappointed at what happened a couple of nights now where people were killed in the middle of what you would call a negotiation."
He added: 'When I see rockets being shot into cities, that's no good. We're not going to allow it.'
When asked if Putin really wants to end the war, Trump replied: "I can't tell you that, but I'll let you know in about two weeks.
"Within two weeks. We're gonna find out whether or not (Putin is) tapping us along or not.
"And if he is, we'll respond a little bit differently."
The US president's comments came just minutes after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov proposed a second round of talks with Ukraine in Istanbul.
He said the proposed talks on June 2 would be a continuation of negotiations.
Kyiv has said it's "not opposed" to meetings.
The White House has ramped up its efforts to push for a ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine.
Trump and Putin recently had a two-hour phone call, after which Putin said he was ready to work with Ukraine on a "memorandum on a possible future peace agreement".
Trump 'not happy' with Putin after war's biggest air attack on Ukraine killing 13 as Don considers sanctions on Russia
The White House has been accused of appeasing Moscow - most notably when Trump shifted the focus from the 30-day ceasefire mentioned in the call and later opted for a summit with Putin.
But the US has rejected these claims, pointing out that all sanctions remain in force against Russia.
The Kremlin has not yet sent a memorandum, claiming it's currently drafting its version and that there cannot be a fixed deadline for ceasefire details to be agreed.
Meanwhile, over the past few days, the US president has lashed out at his Russian counterpart on social media.
He said on Tuesday that Putin has gone "absolutely crazy" and is "playing with fire" after Russia intensified its attacks on Ukraine.
Trump added that "lots of bad things" would have happened to Russia if it were not for his involvement.
He broke his silence on Sunday after Russia fired 367 drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities in the largest aerial attack of the war now in its fourth year.
Russian strikes in Kyiv killed at least 13 people and injured dozens more.
Putin has been building up a 50,000-strong force alongside the border of Kharkiv, for an offensive in the eastern region of Sumy, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
On Tuesday, it was revealed that Putin's forces had snatched another four villages in Ukraine's Sumy region.
Sumy governor Oleh Hryhorov wrote in a post: "The enemy is continuing attempts to advance with the aim of setting up a so-called buffer zone".
Hryhorov said the villages of Novenke, Basivka, Veselivka and Zhuravka had been overrun and the resident evacuated.
In response, Ukraine launched a wave of brutal drone strikes on the Russian capital.
Zelensky has accused Moscow of delaying the peace process and claimed Ukrainian intelligence shows Putin has no intention of ending the war.
According to top Russian officials, Putin wants a "written" pledge from Western leaders to stop Nato's expansion to countries eastward, it was revealed to Reuters.
The eastward expansion refers to Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and other former Soviet republics.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
17 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump raising cash off Los Angeles protest mayhem with ‘attack on the homeland' email
The chief fundraising arm for Donald Trump 's campaign is using protests in Los Angeles to solicit donations from supporters. The Trump National Committee Joint Fundraising Committee — which has sent more than 1,000 fundraising emails since the president's inauguration — issued a 'breaking Trump alert' on Monday after three days of demonstrations in Paramount and downtown Los Angeles against a series of immigration raids. The subject line in the latest message reads: 'Looking really bad in LA!' 'ATTACK ON THE HOMELAND,' reads the message, under a photograph of Trump surrounded by the words 'BREAKING TRUMP ALERT.' The message goes on to promote the president's sweeping ban on entry into the United States from travelers and immigrants from more than a dozen countries, which takes effect Monday. 'We will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm,' the message says. 'That's why I announced the new TRUMP TRAVEL BAN…but I really need to make sure we're on the same page!' Message recipients are asked to complete a 'citizens only survey' to answer whether they support 'defending the homeland' and 'instituting a Trump travel ban to keep America safe.' Links surrounding the text of the message take supporters to a fundraising page that asks whether the recipient is an 'American citizen' or 'illegal alien' — if they choose the latter, they're told to 'end survey immediately.' 'We've seen terror attack after attack carried out by foreign visa overstayers from dangerous places,' according to the message. Joint fundraising committees — in which individual campaigns and political actions committees can join — effectively act as one-stop shops that allow donors to make large contributions shared across those entities. Campaign fundraising committees supporting the president — using his images and signature as if the messages were sent by Trump himself — have routinely relied on his scandals to raise millions of dollars. His criminal indictments — including his mugshot, which has been branded in products from T-shirts to Christmas wrapping paper — are featured in hundreds of messages. His attacks against 'activist' judges who delivered court rulings against his administration's immigration enforcement decisions are included in dozens of recent emails. Militarized law enforcement officers fired tear gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets and pepper spray against crowds of protesters following growing outrage against the administration's ramped-up immigration arrests. Some protesters tossed rocks and bottles or launched fireworks at law enforcement vehicles and set fire to a handful of self-driving Waymo vehicles. The president labelled demonstrators 'insurrectionists' as he defended his administration calling up the National Guard to support local law enforcement. Trump has long sought a showdown with a major Democratic-led state over a signature campaign issue, rapidly drawing the most populous county in America into the administration's plans to escalate a federal law enforcement crackdown on immigration enforcement. On his Truth Social, the president claimed Los Angeles has been 'invaded and occupied' by 'violent, insurrectionist mobs,' and directed administration officials to 'liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion.' Trump deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to the city without the consent of California Governor Gavin Newsom, who said the president's invocation of the National Guard without his approval was 'inflaming tensions.' Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has also suggested Marines at Camp Pendleton could be mobilized 'if violence continues.'
Daily Mail
20 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Trump's ex-communications director makes wild claim about Gavin Newsom's clash with the president over LA riots
Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci made a wild claim about California Gov. Gavin Newsom 's political future amid his clash with President Donald Trump over this weekend's riots in Los Angeles. Newsom continued to taunt Trump Monday afternoon after the president returned to the White House and threatened to arrest the Democratic California governor. Scaramucci, who was hired and fired by Trump in a period of 10 days in 2017, saw Newsom's political stock rising. 'This whole fiasco could make Gavin president,' Scaramucci posted to X Monday morning. Scaramucci has supported Democrats, including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, since his brief tenure in the first Trump White House. 'Gavin has the guts to stand up to these wannabe authoritarians. I will give him that,' Scaramucci posted Sunday night. Scaramucci highlighted a post from Newsom saying that Trump sending 2,000 National Guard troops into Los Angeles County was 'not to meet an unmet need, but to manufacture a crisis.' 'He's hoping for chaos so he can justify more crackdowns, more fear, more control. Stay calm. Never use violence. Stay peaceful,' Newsom said. 'This whole fiasco could make Gavin president,' Anthony Scaramucci posted to X early Monday morning. Trump was worried about having to run in 2024 against Newsom, but President Joe Biden stayed in the race too long for the Democrats to have a primary On Monday Scaramucci reposted Newsom's demand to have the California National Guard returned to the governor's authority. 'I have formally requested the Trump Administration rescind their unlawful deployment of troops in Los Angeles county and return them to my command. We didn't have a problem until Trump got involved,' the Democrat said. 'This is a serious breach of state sovereignty - inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they're actually needed. Rescind the order. Return control to California,' Newsom demanded. Newsom continued to admonish Trump throughout Monday. 'The President of the United States just called for the arrest of a sitting Governor. This is a day I hoped I would never see in America. I don't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican this is a line we cannot cross as a nation - this is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism,' Newsom wrote after Trump made his threat on the South Lawn. Newsom was the one Democratic candidate Trump feared when running against Biden - and later Harris - in the 2024 race, according to Alex Isenstadt's book Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump's Return to Power. The ex-president worried that Biden could drop out of the race cuing a Democratic primary. Instead Biden dropped out of the race so late that the party quickly got behind Harris. 'One person he had been worried about was California Governor Gavin Newsom. Always fixated on visuals, Trump thought the handsome, hair-gelled governor was "slick" and the future of the Democratic Party,' Isenstadt wrote. Trump was also annoyed that Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity woud keep having Newsom on his primetime show, Isenstadt said. But in November of 2023, Newsom debated Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was running against Trump in the Republican primary. Trump, reportedly, wasn't impressed. He thought Newsom had 'bombed,' Isenstadt wrote. 'Ron's an idiot, he doesn't have what it takes. But I thought Newsom would be better,' Trump said at the time, according to Isenstadt's account.
Channel 4
20 minutes ago
- Channel 4
Trump suggests he would support arrest of California Governor
President Trump has suggested he would support the arrest of California's Governor. Gavin Newsom – who's a Presidential contender for the Democrats – is suing the Trump administration for deploying the National Guard in LA to quell protests sparked by immigration raids across the city. Donald Trump has doubled down on that decision, saying if he hadn't, Los Angeles would have been 'completely obliterated'. But he's been accused of inflaming tensions for political gain.
