U.S. President Donald Trump warned Wednesday that Russia will face “very severe consequences” if President Vladimir Putin refuses to end the Ukraine war following their summit on Friday.
Trump was "very clear” in a virtual meeting Wednesday with European leaders that the U.S. wants to achieve a ceasefire at the upcoming U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska, French President Emmanuel Macron said.
In the same meeting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, he told the group that Putin "is bluffing” ahead of the planned meeting with Trump.
Putin, Zelenskyy said, "is trying to apply pressure... on all sectors of the Ukrainian front” in an attempt to show that Russia is "capable of occupying all of Ukraine.”
Putin is also bluffing about sanctions, "as if they do not matter to him and are ineffective. In reality, sanctions are very helpful and are hitting Russia’s war economy hard,” Zelenskyy said.
