In reversal, Trump arms Ukraine and threatens sanctions on countries that buy Russian oil

US President Donald Trump announced new weapons for Ukraine on yesterday (14 July), and threatened to hit buyers of Russian exports with sanctions unless Russia agrees a peace deal in 50 days, a major shift in policy brought on by frustration with Moscow.

Sitting side-by-side with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters that he was disappointed in Russian President Vladimir Putin. Billions of dollars in weapons would be distributed to Ukraine, he said.

"We're going to make top-of-the-line weapons, and they'll be sent to NATO," Trump said, adding that Washington's NATO allies would pay for the weapons.

The weapons would include Patriot air defence missiles, which Ukraine has urgently sought to defend its cities from Russian air strikes.

"It's a full complement with the batteries," Trump said. "We're going to have some come very soon, within days... a couple of the countries that have Patriots are going to swap over and will replace the Patriots with the ones they have."

Some or all of 17 Patriot batteries ordered by other countries could be sent to Ukraine "very quickly", he said.

His threat to impose so-called secondary sanctions on Russia, if carried out, would be a major shift in Western sanctions policy. Lawmakers from both political parties in the United States are pushing for a bill that would authorise such measures, targeting other countries that buy Russian oil.

Throughout the more than three-year-old war, Western countries have cut off most of their own financial ties to Moscow, but have held back from taking steps that would restrict Russia from selling its oil elsewhere.

That has allowed Moscow to continue earning hundreds of billions of dollars from shipping oil to buyers such as China and India.

"We're going to be doing secondary tariffs," Trump said. "If we don't have a deal in 50 days, it's very simple, and they'll be at 100%."

A White House official said Trump was referring to 100% tariffs on Russian goods as well as secondary sanctions on other countries that buy its exports.

Grace period

Still, Trump's announcement of a 50-day grace period was greeted with relief by investors in Russia, where the ruble recovered from earlier losses and stock markets rose.

"Trump performed below market expectations. He gave 50 days during which the Russian leadership can come up with something and extend the negotiation track. Moreover, Trump likes to postpone and extend such deadlines," said analyst Artyom Nikolayev from Invest Era, a financial information firm.

Trump, who returned to power this year promising a quick end to the war, said his shift was motivated by increasing frustration with Putin, who, he said, had talked about peace but continued to strike Ukrainian cities.

"We actually had probably four times a deal. And then the deal wouldn't happen because bombs would be thrown out that night and you'd say we're not making any deals," Trump said.

Since returning to the White House, Trump has sought rapprochement with Moscow, speaking several times with Putin.

His administration has pulled back from pro-Ukrainian policies such as backing Kyiv's membership in NATO and demanding Russia withdraw from all Ukrainian territory.

But so far, Putin has yet to accept a proposal from Trump for an unconditional ceasefire, which was quickly endorsed by Kyiv. Recent days have seen Russia use hundreds of drones to attack Ukrainian cities.

Trump vented his frustration last week, saying: "We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin."

Earlier on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held talks with Trump's envoy Keith Kellogg.

Zelenskiy said he had discussed "the path to peace and what we can practically do together to bring it closer", including "strengthening Ukraine's air defence, joint production and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe."

An air-raid alert was declared in Kyiv shortly after Zelenskiy's talks with Kellogg took place.

Separately on Monday, Zelenskiy said he would replace his long-serving prime minister Denys Shmyhal with Shmyhal's first deputy, Yulia Svyrydenko, in "a transformation of the executive branch". Her appointment will require parliamentary approval.

Svyrydenko, 39, is an economist and has previously served as minister of economic development and trade and as deputy head of Zelenskiy's office. She played a key role in negotiations between Kyiv and Washington on a minerals deal.

Russia, which began its full-scale invasion in February 2022, holds about one-fifth of Ukraine. Its forces are slowly advancing in eastern Ukraine and Moscow shows no sign of abandoning its main war goals.