Asked by a reporter at the White House on Sunday if he was ready to move to “the second phase” of sanctions targeting Russia, Donald Trump responded: “Yeah, I am.” The US president stopped short of saying he was committed to such a decision or what a second phase might entail. The White House did not immediately respond to an email on Sunday asking what steps Trump was contemplating. Trump said on Sunday night that “certain European leaders are coming over to our country on Monday or Tuesday individually” and he would also speak to Vladimir Putin soon.
The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said on Sunday that the US and the EU could put “secondary tariffs on the countries that buy Russian oil”, pushing the Russian economy to the brink of collapse and bringing Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table. China is a major buyer of Russian energy exports. Trump has placed a 50% tariff on Indian goods – ostensibly because it imports Russian oil, although the US president harbours other grievances involving India, reportedly including its prime minister’s refusal to nominate him for a Nobel peace prize.
Donald Trump gave Vladimir Putin what he wanted by hosting the Russian president in Alaska, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told the US network ABC. “And it’s a pity … Putin doesn’t want to meet with me, but he wants very much to meet with the president of the United States, to show everybody video and images that he is there.” The ABC presenter Martha Raddatz put to Zelenskyy “[Putin] said he will meet if you come to Moscow,” to which the Ukrainian president responded scornfully: “He can come to Kyiv,” adding: “I can’t go to Moscow when my country is under missiles, under attacks each day … he understands it.” Putin’s stance was a ploy to postpone their meeting, Zelenskyy said, adding that he was “ready for any kind of meeting – but not in Russia – any kind of meeting, bilateral [only with Putin], trilateral [adding Trump]”.
Separately the Ukrainian president said he was counting on a strong US response to the largest ever Russian barrage on Ukraine. A mother and her baby were among the dead, and for the first time a key government building in Kyiv was hit, writes Kate Connolly. “It is important that there is a broad response from partners to this attack today,” said Zelenskyy on Sunday. “We are counting on a strong response from America. That is what is needed.” Trump’s Ukraine war envoy, Keith Kellogg, said on Sunday that the Russian attack “was not a signal that Russia wants to diplomatically end this war”.
In other areas of Ukraine, a teenage girl was injured when Russian mortars hit homes in Kupyansk, Kharkiv region, officials said; and a woman was hurt in a drone strike on Sumy city, said the head of the regional administration.
Ukraine’s military said it attacked the Druzhba oil pipeline in Russia’s Bryansk region, inflicting “comprehensive fire damage” during an overnight attack on Sunday. It is part of a strategy to target Russia’s energy industry, which is the backbone of its economy and helps fund the war. Recipients of oil from the pipeline include Hungary and Slovakia whose prime ministers are friendly to Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine’s defence ministry said a new meeting of Kyiv’s allies was being planned and air defences and supplies for Kyiv’s deep strikes on Russia would be discussed.
