US President Donald Trump has announced a shorter deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire, “ten or 12 days” starting from the 28th of July, the BBC reports.
Trump said there was no point in waiting any longer because Russia was doing nothing. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Trump’s intervention “very significant.”
In early July, the US president gave Russian dictator Vladimir Putin 50 days to reach a ceasefire. Otherwise, new sanctions would be imposed on Russia. Speaking to reporters during a visit to Scotland, Trump said he would confirm the new deadline on the 28th or the 29th of july, and reiterated that new sanctions would be imposed on Moscow.
Zelensky thanked Trump for the adjusted deadline in a post on the social network X, and pointed out that it was coming just in time.
Today, there was an extremely significant statement by President Trump. And it is true: it is Russia who is doing everything to undermine peace efforts and drag out the war. Every night there are strikes, constant Russian attempts to hurt Ukraine. Indeed, peace is possible if we… pic.twitter.com/fIWyGkHF0q
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 28, 2025
Trump said in early July that the sanctions would also include a 100% customs tariff on goods from countries that cooperate with Russia. This would mean that US manufacturers would look for other sources to buy the products they need, which in turn would result in losses for Russia-friendly countries and Russia itself.
After meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the US president once again expressed dissatisfaction with Putin’s actions in Ukraine, where hostilities have been raging for more than three years. Although Trump avoided saying that Putin was lying to him, he emphasized that there is a huge difference between what Putin says when talking face to face and the missiles that fall on Ukrainian cities every night. “We were going to have a ceasefire and maybe peace… and all of a sudden you have missiles flying into Kyiv and other places.
I say, forget it. I’m not gonna talk anymore. This has happened on too many occasions and I don’t like it,”
said Trump.
Trump’s announcement that the talks are over caused a major stir in the Russian media. Putin has not commented on the timing, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has previously indicated that it is serious, and Moscow needs some time to think.
Russian MP Andrei Gurulev said on the 28th of July that Trump’s ultimatums are not working, neither in Moscow nor on the front lines. Russia has its “arms, principles and will.”
Meanwhile, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has once again spoken out more loudly, according to the Reuters. Medvedev has indicated that every US ultimatum is leading closer to war, and not a war in Ukraine, but a war with Trump’s country.
Russia has stepped up its attacks on Ukraine over the summer. Three rounds of talks in Turkey have resulted in the exchange of thousands of prisoners of war, but no progress has been made on a ceasefire. It is unclear how any agreement can be reached in just 12 days. Russia’s terms for a ceasefire are unacceptable to Kiev or its Western partners. Moscow is demanding that Ukraine remain neutral, reduce its armed forces and abandon its move towards NATO.
Read also: Aeroflot suffers IT problems; hacker group claims responsibility