President Donald Trump has questioned whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is "serious" about ending the war in Ukraine and hinted that Russia could soon face "secondary sanctions" from the United States if it doesn't stop attacking civilian areas.
"There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities, and towns over the last few days. It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war.
"He's just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through 'Banking' or 'Secondary Sanctions?' Too many people are dying!!!" Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
A change in tone
The comments came shortly after Ukraine's leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, had what he described as a potentially "historic" meeting with Trump at St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on Saturday, shortly before the funeral of Pope Francis, about ending the current conflict.
"We discussed a lot one-on-one. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting the lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out," Zelenskyy wrote on X.
Trump's comments are a clear change in tone from the language he has been using over the last few months, in which he has repeatedly praised Putin while appearing to rewrite history by accusing Ukraine of starting the war.
His meeting with Zelenskyy at the Vatican was the first time the two had sat down in person since a fiery Oval Office encounter in February, which saw Trump publicly berate Zelenskyy in front of the world's media.
Ready to push ahead with sanctions
While Trump was in Italy, his special envoy Steve Witkoff, who has been a major player in peace talks, was in Russia meeting with Putin over the weekend.
After the talks, Russian state media said that Putin had reiterated his readiness to enter into direct negotiations with Ukraine "without preconditions".
Despite signals that a deal to end the conflict, which Trump has been pursuing since he came into office, could be closer though, senior Republicans signalled that they would take Trump's sanctions call seriously after his latest remarks.
"The Senate stands ready to move in this direction and will do so overwhelmingly if Russia does not embrace an honourable, just and enduring peace," Senator Lindsay Graham said in a post on X.
Graham is part of a bipartisan group of 50 senators, made up of 25 Democrats and 25 Republicans, that introduced a bill earlier this month to impose additional sanctions on Russia.
Kursk almost reclaimed, Russian commander says
Meanwhile, a Russian military commander has told Putin that "the scattered remnants" of the Ukrainian army remaining in Russia's Kursk region will soon be destroyed, the state RIA news agency reported on Sunday.
Putin on Saturday hailed what he said was the complete failure of an offensive by Ukrainian forces in Kursk after Moscow said they had been expelled from the last village they had been holding.
Kyiv denied that its forces had been expelled from Kursk and said they were also still operating in Belgorod, another Russian region bordering Ukraine.
