Trump Threatens Russia With Sanctions and Vows U.S. Weapon Support for Ukraine

The president also warned Russia that he would impose a new round of punishing sanctions if it did not agree to a peace deal within 50 days.

President Trump said on Monday that he would help Europe speed more weapons to Ukraine and warned Russia that if it did not agree to a peace deal within 50 days, he would impose a new round of punishing sanctions.

The announcement comes as Mr. Trump carries out a remarkable shift in tone — if not in practice — on the war in Ukraine from his first months in office, when he looked to leverage his personal relationship with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to end the war.

“He’s fooled a lot of people,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Putin, who launched an unprovoked full invasion on Ukraine in 2022 and escalated attacks amid peace negotiations this year, even as Mr. Trump tried to bring an end to the fighting.

“He fooled Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden — he didn’t fool me,” Mr. Trump said, seemingly sensitive to the perception that he was changing his tune on the Russian president.

Speaking from the Oval Office, where he met with the secretary general of NATO, Mark Rutte​, Mr. Trump said that a range of artillery would be “quickly distributed to the battlefield,” in a deal brokered by Mr. Rutte and European leaders. Under the deal, the United States would sell Patriot air defense missiles to NATO members, which would then supply them to Ukraine.

“We’ll send them a lot of weapons of all kinds,” Mr. Trump said. “And they’re going to deliver those weapons immediately to the site, to the site of the war, different sites of the war, and they’re going to pay for 100 percent of them.”

As much as Mr. Trump appeared to want credit for helping to end the war, he was also clear that he did not want to be blamed for the outcome.

“I do want to make one statement again,” he said. “I said it before. This is not Trump’s war.”

Mr. Trump also threatened to impose “secondary tariffs,” which he said could be as high as 100 percent, and secondary sanctions, which are penalties imposed on other countries or parties that trade with nations under sanctions.

“We’re very, very unhappy with them, and we’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days,” Mr. Trump declared. Mr. Trump has previously referred to secondary tariffs as levies on imports from countries that buy products from a nation he has targeted in his foreign policy.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly threatened to punish Russia over its escalating attacks in Ukraine but so far has not followed through. Sanctions that punish Russia’s energy sector and its customers, as a proposed Senate bill would do, would hurt Moscow much more than tariffs on the low level of goods that Russia sends to the United States. Secondary sanctions would target countries that do financial business with Russia.

On Monday, Mr. Trump described the tariffs as “biting” and appeared to signal that he was ready to use what has become his most powerful tool in getting countries to do what he wants.

“I use trade for a lot of things,” Mr. Trump said. “But it’s great for settling wars.”

Mr. Trump has dodged questions in the past about whether he thought Mr. Putin had sought to prolong the war. But on Monday, he complained that Mr. Putin had now backed out of at least four deals, and that he thought a peace deal would have been made at least two months ago. “My conversations with him are very pleasant, and then the missiles go off at night,” Mr. Trump said.

He recounted how he would tell Melania Trump, the first lady, about his “wonderful” conversation with Mr. Putin, and she would reply, “Oh, really, another city was just hit.”

So far, Mr. Putin has remained undeterred by Mr. Trump’s repeated threats and complaints.

The Russian president still believes that his country has the battlefield momentum, and is still seeking major concessions that Mr. Trump has refused to make, like pushing Ukraine to give up more territory and limit the future size of its military.

In another notable about-face, Mr. Trump joined Mr. Rutte in praising Ukraine for its ability to stave off the relentless Russian bombardment amid dwindling resources.

Early in his tenure, Mr. Trump falsely stated that Ukraine had started the war and accused its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, of wanting to prolong it. But on Monday, Mr. Trump talked about how Ukraine had “fought with tremendous courage, and they continue to fight with tremendous courage.”

Mr. Trump boosted the new weapons deal as evidence of his success in getting NATO to increase its military spending, and for encouraging Europe to take a greater role in the war. Noting that “we have an ocean separating us,” Mr. Trump discussed how he saw a reinvigoration of Europe’s stake in the war.

“I have to tell you, Europe has a lot of spirit for this war,” he said. “When I first got involved, I didn’t think they did, but they do.”

Mr. Rutte, who said Mr. Trump called him on Thursday to inform him of his decision, called the announcement “really big” for Ukraine. He said the fact that Mr. Trump wanted Ukraine to defend itself while also having Europe pay for it was “logical.”

He also praised Mr. Trump’s hardened stance against Russia.

“I would reconsider whether I should not take negotiations about Ukraine more seriously than I was doing at the moment, if I was Vladimir Putin,” he said. “But when I’m Ukraine, I think this is really great news for them.”

Steven Erlanger, David E. Sanger, Ana Swanson and Anton Troianovski contributed reporting.

Our Coverage of the War in Ukraine

• To Understand Russia, Visit Dubai: You can learn a lot about Russia by coming to Dubai, which hasn’t joined the West’s sanctions against Russia and has replaced London and Switzerland as a refuge of choice for Moscow’s wealthy.
• Cooking for the Front Line: A chef appeared on TV before joining the army when Russia invaded in 2022. Now he makes his borscht for Ukrainian troops instead of cooking show judges.
• Sanctions for Russia?: Flattery and pressure — coupled with Trump’s growing dissatisfaction with Putin — have helped build momentum for new economic punishments.
• Putin, Undeterred: The Russian leader is brushing aside Trump’s professed disappointment in him and is pushing ahead in Ukraine with renewed intensity, analysts and people close to the Kremlin said.
• ‘Widespread’ Rights Violations: In symbolic rulings by the European Court of Human Rights, Moscow was again blamed for the downing of Flight MH17 in 2014 and for an array of war-related human rights violations, including the transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia.
• Reemergence of Land Mines: Five countries plan to revive the use of the weapon prohibited by treaty for more than a quarter of a century, hoping to strengthen their defenses against any Russian attack.

How We Verify Our Reporting

• Our team of visual journalists analyzes satellite images, photographs, videos and radio transmissions to independently confirm troop movements and other details.
• We monitor and authenticate reports on social media, corroborating these with eyewitness accounts and interviews. Read more about our reporting efforts.

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