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President Trump sent a strong message to Russia on Friday morning, making clear that peace with Ukraine is the only viable path forward.
In a Truth Social post, the 47th president wrote, “Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely ‘pounding’ Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED.”
He concluded with a message for both countries. “To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late. Thank you!!!”
Trump’s promise was a reiteration of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s Thursday remarks regarding the President’s preparations for additional sanctions.
“A major factor that has enabled the Russian war machine’s continued financing was the Biden administration’s egregiously weak sanctions on Russian energy, stemming from worries about upward pressure on U.S. energy prices,” Bessent said during remarks at the Economic Club of New York.
“This administration has kept the enhanced sanctions in place and will not hesitate to go ‘all in’ should it provide leverage in peace negotiations,” Bessent added. He told attendees that the sanctions would “be used explicitly and aggressively for immediate maximum impact.”
Despite the media and the Democrat Party incessantly accusing him of being on “Putin’s side,” Trump took various actions against Russia and its oligarchs in 2018 and 2019. Once again, he is executing his “peace through strength” foreign policy to deter Russian aggression.
Speaking from the Oval Office on Friday, President Trump said that he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted peace, and that Ukraine needed to “get on the ball and get the job done.”
He candidly remarked that Russia was “bombing the hell out of Ukraine,” and added that he was “finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine.”
According to a Friday report from The Independent, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared an update on the war via Telegram. He called for “silence in the sky” and wrote, “The first steps to establishing real peace should be to force the sole source of this war, that is, Russia, to stop precisely such attack against life.”
Additionally, Ukraine’s air force said that Russia had fired 67 missiles and 194 drones, but that it had shot down 34 rockets and 100 drones. The remaining drones disappeared into the sky.
Trump remains committed to bringing peace, and Zelenskyy is supposedly ready to sign the minerals deal, but it is unclear when that will occur.
