Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump ‘p***** off’ with Putin and threatens more sanctions if ceasefire not agreed

Vladimir Putin is making a mockery of ceasefire efforts, a Ukrainian MP has told The Independent.

Oleksandr Merezhko, who chairs the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign policy committee, said earlier this week that Donald Trump may change his attitude towards the Russian autocrat when he realises Putin is not serious about peace.

Dealing with Putin is “worse than dealing with gangsters” because “you can never trust, you can never rely [on him]”, Mr Merezhko said.

He added: “It’s an illusion to believe you can make a deal with Putin [which will] be followed conscientiously by Putin. It’s a total illusion.

“Trump should understand that on Putin’s part, it’s a mockery. It’s a mockery, all this negotiation process. When Trump realises this, maybe he will change his attitude towards Putin.”

Donald Trump has been told by Finland’s president Alexander Stubb that the US has “far-reaching” plans in case Russia does not accept a ceasefire in Ukraine.

Speaking to Finnish reporters in London, Mr Stubb said the US president was running out of patience with Russia, having met him in a surprise visit to Florida.

Mr Stubb added that a deadline for a ceasefire in Ukraine must be set in order to make it happen.

"April 20 would be a good time for a full ceasefire without any conditions,” Mr Stubb said, “because a deadline is needed, because it is Easter and because President Donald Trump will have been in office for three months”.

In Mr Stubb’s visit to Florida, the presidents discussed strengthening their countries' bilateral partnership and also played a round of golf, the Finnish president’s office said.

Donald Trump has said Russian president Vladimir Putin is already aware of the US president’s anger towards him.

NBC News reported that Mr Trump told a reporter in a phone call he was furious about Putin’s suggestion that Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration should be replaced by a UN-mandated government.

Mr Trump said Putin knows he is angry with him, but said he had “a very good relationship with him” and “the anger dissipates quickly... if he does the right thing.”

The US president added that tariffs on Russian oil would come within a month without a ceasefire deal.

US president Donald Trump referred to Volodymyr Zelensky as a “dictator without elections” as recently as last month.

Echoing Kremlin propaganda, Mr Trump berated him as a “modestly successful comedian” before a calamitous White House press conference.

Speaking from the far north Russian city of Murmansk last week, Mr Putin floated the idea of a UN-mandated government in Kyiv as a way of allowing Ukraine to “hold democratic elections”.

He said a temporary administration under the auspices of the UN could be discussed "with the United States, with European countries, and of course with our partners and friends".

"This would be in order to hold democratic elections, to bring to power a capable government trusted by the people and then to begin with it talks on a peace agreement and sign legitimate documents," he said.

Mr Zelensky has served beyond his term due to elections being put on hold under martial law following Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

No, no, no, Mr President. Volodymyr Zelensky is not a dictator. Ukraine did not start the war. The Ukrainian people are right to defend themselves against Vladimir Putin’s aggression. And it is time to speak the truth – without equivocation.

Donald Trump’s words on the war in Ukraine cannot be half-accepted or negotiated around. They must be rejected. Truth is too important. And the truth is that Mr Trump is turning the values of the American republic on their head. He stands at the head of a nation founded on the idea that a people have the right to decide their own future. That noble idea cannot be given up without a fight.

The signs are that we may be witnessing nothing short of a revolution in world affairs: the switch of the United States from an ally of Europe to an ally of Russia. From an ally of freedom and democracy to an ally of dictatorship, oppression and brutality.

Read the full editorial from 21 February here:

Last month, Trump accused Mr Zelensky, who he called a “modestly successful comedian” in a reference to his previous career as a sitcom star and entertainer, of having “talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start.”

“A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,” Mr Trump said.

Read the full story here:

US president Donald Trump is “very angry” and “p***** off” with Vladimir Putin, according to NBC News.

The US network reported that Mr Trump told a reporter in a phone call he was furious about Mr Putin’s call for regime change in Ukraine, saying the comments were “not going in the right direction”.

“If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault — which it might not be — but if I think it was Russia’s fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia,” Mr Trump told NBC News.

“That would be that if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States,” Trump said. “There will be a 25 per cent tariff on all oil, a 25- to 50-point tariff on all oil.”