US President Donald Trump on Friday said he will take a “very important decision” in the next two weeks regarding the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, indicating that options on the table range from imposing “massive sanctions or tariffs” on Moscow to stepping back and declaring the conflict as “not Washington’s war.”
Speaking to reporters at the Oval Office, Trump stressed that his decision would depend on developments over the next fortnight and pushed for a direct meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“In two weeks, we are going to know which way I am going. It’s going to be a very important decision. I’m going to decide whether it’s massive sanctions, massive tariffs, or both—or do we do nothing and say it’s your fight,” Trump said.
He added, “It takes two to tango. I wanted to have a meeting with those two. If they don’t meet, then why not, after I told them to?”
When asked about reports of a US-linked factory hit during Russian missile attacks in Ukraine, Trump expressed dissatisfaction with the state of the war. He reiterated his past claims of brokering peace in multiple global conflicts. “I’ve settled seven wars, and three potential wars, that’s 10 wars. We solved what could’ve been a nuclear war between India and Pakistan. Not happy at all about what’s happening now,” he said.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Putin remained open to a meeting with Zelenskyy, provided all key issues for conflict resolution were prepared in advance at the ministerial and expert level.
The remarks come as Trump seeks to project his role as a potential peace-broker while leaving ambiguity about whether Washington will escalate economic pressure on Moscow or step back from deeper involvement in the conflict.