Donald Trump says US weapons are already being shipped to Ukraine and that he has not spoken to Vladimir Putin since threatening Russia with sanctions. Follow the latest below.
Wednesday 16 July 2025 08:00, UK
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On Monday, Donald Trump threatened Russia with tariffs and announced a deal to boost weapons shipments heading to Ukraine.
These latest steps reflect an evolving approach from the US president, who once focused his criticism on Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whom he described as unwilling to compromise.
Here is what Trump said…
He said he would implement “severe tariffs” on Russia unless a peace deal was reached within 50 days.
He provided few details on how they would be implemented, but he described them as secondary tariffs, meaning they would target Russia’s trading partners in an effort to isolate Moscow in the global economy.
“My conversations with him [Putin] are very pleasant, and then the missiles go off at night,” Trump said.
He added: “We’re going to be doing secondary tariffs. 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.
Zelenskyy said on Telegram he had spoken to Trump and “thanked him for his readiness to support Ukraine and to continue working together to stop the killings and establish a lasting and just peace.”
One person has died in Russia’s Voronezh region after a Ukrainian drone attack, Voronezh fovernor Alexander Gusev reports this morning.
“On behalf of all Voronezh residents, I express my sincere condolences to the relatives of the deceased,” Gusev wrote on Telegram.
“They can count on all the necessary assistance.”
The governor also said that two people were in a serious condition.
Drone attacks have intensified between Russia and Ukraine over the last few months.
Both sides claim they only target military infrastructure.
Russian and Belarusian citizens will be banned from purchasing properties in Finland, it has been announced.
The ban, which took effect yesterday, is part of Finland’s effort to bolster its national security.
Finnish defence minister Antti Hakkanen described the move as an “important reform that was left undone for far too long”.
“When I started at the ministry of defence, I considered this a shortcoming and initiated preparations for the property transaction about two years ago,” he wrote on X.
He went on to say the move was about “strengthening Finland’s security” and “preparing for all means of influence”.
As he stepped onto the South Lawn of the White House yesterday, Donald Trump told reporters that Volodymyr Zelenskyy should not target Moscow and that Vladimir Putin should agree to a ceasefire deal by a 50-day deadline or sanctions will kick in.
His comments came after The Financial Times, citing people briefed on discussions, reported that Trump had privately encouraged Ukraine to step up deep strikes on Russia.
The newspaper said that Trump asked Zelenskyy whether he could strike Moscow if the US provided long-range weapons.
“No, he shouldn’t target Moscow,” Trump told reporters when asked if Zelenskyy should attack the Russian capital.
In case you missed his comments yesterday, you can watch Trump in the clip below…
Ukraine has been hit by a large Russian drone attack overnight.
In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, at least 17 explosions were heard in the space of 20 minutes, the regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
“Most of the strikes were on a civilian enterprise in the Kyiv district of the city,” he wrote on Telegram.
At least three people in Kharkiv were injured.
And in the Dnipro region, in the city of Kryvyi Rih, a 17-year-old boy was reported injured.
Over in the Vinnytsia region, central Ukraine, seven people were left wounded after a wave of strikes.
In recent months, Russia has intensified its bombardments against Ukrainian cities.
Last Wednesday, Russia launched its largest drone strike against Ukraine, with Kyiv’s air defence systems shooting down 296 drones.
Another 415 were lost from radars or jammed.
Donald Trump has said that weapons are already being shipped to Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, he also said he had not spoken to Vladimir Putin since sanctions against Russia were announced on Monday.
What happened on Monday?
The US president revealed that the Washington will sell weapons to NATO which can then be passed onto Ukraine.
Several European countries have already committed to support this initiative, including Germany, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Canada and Finland.
We’re back with our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Yesterday, Donald Trump said Volodymyr Zelenskyy should not target Moscow with strikes after he announced more weapons would be sent to Ukraine and toughened his stance on Russia.
It came after the Financial Times reported that Trump had asked his Ukrainian counterpart whether Kyiv could strike Moscow if the US provided long-range weapons.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said it was paying close attention to Trump’s “serious” comments threatening “severe” tariffs on Russia if Moscow does not agree to a peace deal in Ukraine within 50 days.
And NATO boss Mark Rutte warned India, China and Brazil they could be hit very hard by secondary sanctions if they continue to trade with Russia, urging them to call Putin to demand an end to the war in Ukraine.
We’ll bring you the latest updates as we get them.
Thanks for following our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
We’re now pausing our live updates, but we’ll be back in the morning with all the latest.
Before we sign off, here’s a brief rundown of what’s happened today:
Two US senators have said Donald Trump’s 50-day ultimatum of imposing “severe” tariffs on Russia if it does not end its war in Ukraine would give Vladimir Putin more time to gain an advantage on the battlefield.
Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, and Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire, warned it could give Putin time to grab even more Ukrainian territory.
Tillis said: “The 50-day delay worries me that Putin would try to use the 50 days to win the war, or to be better positioned to negotiate a peace agreement after having murdered and potentially collected more ground.”
Trump himself has scoffed at the idea that 50 days gives Putin too much time, with the US president suggesting he may act more quickly if he does not see signs his Russian counterpart is taking steps towards ending the conflict.
“I don’t think 50 days is very long and it could be shorter than that,” he said.
Alexei Navalny’s wife is urging Italy to cancel a concert by a Russian conductor who has been shunned in the West since the invasion of Ukraine.
Valery Gergiev is scheduled to perform on 27 July at a festival in the Reggia di Caserta palace near Naples, leading a local philharmonic orchestra and soloists from the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra in St Petersburg, which he leads.
But in an op-ed for la Repubblica newspaper, Yulia Navalnaya called Gergiev an “intimate friend” of Vladimir Putin and a cultural ambassador for his administration.
“There is a big problem,” she wrote. “How is it possible that in the summer of 2025, three years after the start of the conflict in Ukraine, Valery Gergiev, Putin’s accomplice… is suddenly invited to Italy to participate in a festival.”
Navalny was one of Putin’s fiercest critics and relentlessly campaigned against corruption in the Kremlin.
He died in a remote Arctic penal colony in February last year while serving a 19-year prison sentence on extremism charges and always maintained the charges were politically motivated.
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