US President Donald Trump has increased pressure on Russia to end its war in Ukraine, saying he was setting a new deadline of 10 to 12 days for Moscow to make progress on doing so.
Trump said on Monday that he was reducing the 50-day deadline he gave Russia over its war in Ukraine, underscoring his frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin for prolonging the fighting between the two countries.
"I'm going to reduce the 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number because I think I already know the answer to what's going to happen," Trump said, speaking alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ahead of their meeting in Scotland.
Trump set the 50-day deadline earlier this month. The US president has repeatedly voiced exasperation with Putin for continuing attacks on Ukraine despite US efforts to end the war.
Before returning to the White House in January, Trump, who views himself as a peacemaker, had promised to end the three-and-a-half-year-old conflict within 24 hours.
Trump has threatened new sanctions on Russia and buyers of its exports unless an agreement is reached by early September.
But the president, who has also expressed annoyance with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has not always followed up on his tough talk about Putin with action, citing what he deems a good relationship that the two men have had previously.
"We thought we had that settled numerous times, and then President Putin goes out and starts launching rockets into some city like Kiev and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever," Trump said. "And I say that's not the way to do it."
