‘Narcissist v assassin': Trump's latest threat to Putin comes with extra oomph
This time, however, the American president is throwing serious military hardware behind his message to Putin about the need for peace talks. And his tariff threat is not just aimed at Russia but also at those who buy its oil, such as India and China.
'I don't want to say he's an assassin, but he's a tough guy,' Trump said of Putin on Monday in Washington. The label sticks after a remark like that.
That kind of language would have been unthinkable only months ago, when Trump still admired the autocrat in the Kremlin. So this is a turning point – but the words only matter because there is some muscle behind them.
The military commitment is not just about sending Patriot systems that intercept Russian missiles. Yes, European countries will pay for more of these US systems to ship to Ukraine to defend civilians from nightly bombardment. Ukraine has been asking for more of these for months.
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The arms supply deal is about going on the attack, not just defence. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, sitting next to Trump in the Oval Office on Monday to announce the plan, made this very clear.
'The US will keep its stockpiles necessary to defend this country, that's absolutely clear,' Rutte said.
'But it will mean that Ukraine gets its hands on really massive numbers of military equipment, both for air defence, but also missiles, ammunition.'
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Former president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chair of Russia's Security Council, said Moscow did not care about Trump's "theatrical ultimatum", while a senior Russian diplomat, Sergei Ryabkov, suggested that giving ultimatums to Moscow was unacceptable and pointless. Trump, who has said he wants to be seen as a "peacemaker" president, said he wanted to see the end of the war - on which he said the United States had spent $US350 billion ($A534 billion) - but that he had been "disappointed" by Putin. Trump specifically expressed frustration that Putin's "talk" about peace was often followed by Russian strikes on major Ukrainian cities, and indicated Washington wanted to press Moscow into ending the war by sending more arms to Ukraine. "I don't want to say he's an assassin, but he's a tough guy," Trump said of Putin, a reference to former US President Joe Biden calling the Russian leader "a killer" in a 2021 interview. 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Kommersant, one of Russia's most respected newspapers, invoked William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" in its front page headline to suggest betrayal: "Et tu, Trump - the main peacekeeper of Ukrainian conflict joined the 'party of war". Putin has repeatedly said he is ready to make peace - but on his terms - and there is no point discussing a ceasefire until the details of what a peace would look like are nailed down. In Washington, a White House official said Trump's intention was to impose "100 per cent tariffs on Russia" and secondary sanctions on other countries that buy oil from Russia if a peace deal was not struck in 50 days. China, India and Turkey are the biggest buyers of crude from Russia, the world's second-largest exporter of oil Trump, sitting beside NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office, on Monday, announced new weapons for Ukraine and threatened "biting" secondary tariffs of 100 per cent on the buyers of Russian exports unless there is a peace deal in 50 days. "The US president's statements are very serious. Some of them are addressed personally to President Putin," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday. "We certainly need time to analyse what was said in Washington." Putin, who has spoken to Trump by telephone at least six times in 2025, has yet to comment publicly on Trump's remarks. But two other senior Russian officials did not hold back. Former president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chair of Russia's Security Council, said Moscow did not care about Trump's "theatrical ultimatum", while a senior Russian diplomat, Sergei Ryabkov, suggested that giving ultimatums to Moscow was unacceptable and pointless. Trump, who has said he wants to be seen as a "peacemaker" president, said he wanted to see the end of the war - on which he said the United States had spent $US350 billion ($A534 billion) - but that he had been "disappointed" by Putin. Trump specifically expressed frustration that Putin's "talk" about peace was often followed by Russian strikes on major Ukrainian cities, and indicated Washington wanted to press Moscow into ending the war by sending more arms to Ukraine. "I don't want to say he's an assassin, but he's a tough guy," Trump said of Putin, a reference to former US President Joe Biden calling the Russian leader "a killer" in a 2021 interview. The Financial Times reported that Trump had privately encouraged Ukraine to step up strikes deep in Russian territory, even asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy whether he could hit Moscow if the US provided long-range weapons. Trump told the BBC that he was "not done" with Putin and that he thought a Ukraine peace deal was on the cards. Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces. The United States says 1.2 million people have been injured or killed in the war. In Moscow, state television broadcasts led with advances by Russian troops in Ukraine, of which Russian forces control just under a fifth, and an attack on Russia by Ukrainian drones that injured 18 people. Kommersant, one of Russia's most respected newspapers, invoked William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" in its front page headline to suggest betrayal: "Et tu, Trump - the main peacekeeper of Ukrainian conflict joined the 'party of war". Putin has repeatedly said he is ready to make peace - but on his terms - and there is no point discussing a ceasefire until the details of what a peace would look like are nailed down. In Washington, a White House official said Trump's intention was to impose "100 per cent tariffs on Russia" and secondary sanctions on other countries that buy oil from Russia if a peace deal was not struck in 50 days. China, India and Turkey are the biggest buyers of crude from Russia, the world's second-largest exporter of oil
