Donald Trump has threatened 100% tariffs on buyers of Russian exports unless Russia agrees to a Ukraine peace deal within 50 days – but a key ally of Vladimir Putin has dismissed the US president’s “theatrical ultimatum”. Follow the latest below.
Tuesday 15 July 2025 09:49, UK
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As he sat down to make his announcement about weapons for Ukraine and potential sanctions on Russia yesterday, Donald Trump gave the world an insight into how his wife Melania was reminding him of the horrors of the war in Ukraine.
He told reporters: “We thought we had a deal numerous times. I get home, I tell the first lady, ‘You know, I just had the most wonderful talk with Vladimir. I think we are finished’.
“And then she said to me one time, ‘Well, that’s strange because he just bombed a nursing home’.”
Looking at whether Trump’s changing stance on Russia was down to Melania on our latest Trump 100 podcast, our US correspondent Mark Stone says: “Is she driving the Ukrainian policy now? Absolutely not.
“But for me, it was an interesting glimpse into his evolving view on Ukraine.”
Stone says it also raises the question as to why it takes his wife to tell him what’s on the news.
“He should be across all that anyway,” Stone adds.
US correspondent James Matthews says: “I think it gave us a view into the home life.”
Matthews jokily adds: “He comes home hard-pressed and exhausted from work.
“She’s sitting on the sofa, curlers in, slippers on, watching the TV and updating him on the news, before he puts his slippers on and puts his curlers in.”
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Donald Trump has said he is “not done” with Vladimir Putin but he is “disappointed in him”.
In an phone interview with the BBC, the US president said he thought a Ukraine deal was on the cards with Russia four different times.
Asked if he was done with Putin, Trump said: “I’m disappointed in him but I’m not done with him. But I’m disappointed in him.
“I thought we had a deal done four times and then you go home and you see he just attacked a nursing home or something in Kyiv.”
During the interview, Trump was also pressed on how he would get Putin to “stop the bloodshed”.
“We’re working it,” Trump said.
“We’ll have a great conversation. I’ll say: ‘That’s good, I’ll think we’re close to getting it done,’ and then he’ll knock down a building in Kyiv.”
And questioned on whether he trusted Putin, he said: “I trust almost nobody.”
Firefighters have been battling the flames after a Russian attack in the Kharkiv region.
Kharkiv is Ukraine’s second largest city and is located in the northeast of the country.
It has been frequently targeted since Russia launched its full scale invasion in 2022.
We don’t yet know if Donald Trump’s shift in stance on Russia is a sea change or part of a whiplash effect, the director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute says.
Speaking to Sky’s Matt Barbet, Matthew Savill notes that the Russian economy has proved pretty resilient in the face of sanctions so far.
He says that Trump is suggesting are secondary sanctions – that means he is taking action on other countries that deal with Russia, such as China, India and in some respects Europe, which is still buying Russian fossil fuels and energy supplies.
“We need to be a bit cautious as to whether this is a sea change in Trump’s opinion or if it’s just another part of a whiplash effect as he veers backwards and forwards,” Savill says.
“His overriding goal is to get credit for ending the fighting.”
Asked if the move will support Ukraine’s defensive aims, he adds: “There is a lot we don’t know.
“The one system that was identified – the Patriot – is the most sophisticated ground-based air defence that Ukrainians have been given by a number of countries, predominantly the US.
“That will help in the face of ballistic missiles and cruise missile attacks but it is not useful against the cheap but overwhelming number of drones that Russia is sending.
“What the Ukrainians still need are cheaper, smaller air defence missiles and other systems, e.g. electronic warfare and machine guns.
“Or their own longer-range weapons that can strike where those weapons are made.”
The “proof is still in the pudding” as to what is in this weapons deal, Savill says.
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the spokeswoman of the Russian foreign ministry has said.
Lavrov is visiting China for a foreign ministers meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
“Lavrov conveyed to the Chinese leader a friendly greeting and best wishes from the president of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin,” the Russian ministry said in a statement on its website.
“The two sides discussed a number of issues concerning bilateral political contacts…including preparations for the Russian president’s upcoming visit to the People’s Republic of China.”
Putin will travel to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, hold talks with Xi Jinping and join ceremonies on 3 September marking the anniversary of the victory over Japan in the Second World War.
China and Russia declared a “no limits” partnership in February 2022, days before Russia invaded Ukraine.
Dmitry Medvedev has said Moscow “didn’t care” about what he described as the “theatrical ultimatum” Donald Trump issued to the Kremlin a day earlier.
We reported earlier that the US leader had threatened Russia with “severe tariffs” unless a peace deal was reached within 50 days (see post at 6.44am).
He described them as secondary tariffs, meaning they would target Russia’s trading partners.
Here is what Medvedev had to say…
Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.
“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States, going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield,” the US president told reporters yesterday.
Here, our international affairs editor Dominic Waghorn looks at how much of an impact the weapons could have on the war…
Several people have been injured and houses and non-residential buildings are damaged as a result of Ukraine’s overnight drone attack on the neighbouring Russian regions of southwestern regions of Lipetsk and Voronezh, regional governors report this morning.
Russia’s air defence units destroyed 12 drones over the Voronezh region that borders Ukraine, governor Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.
“Unfortunately, there were injuries,” he said.
“In central Voronezh, several people sustained minor injuries due to debris from a downed UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles).”
In the city of Yelets in the Lipetsk region, a drone crashed in an industrial zone, regional governor Igor Artamonov said on Telegram.
“One person was injured and is receiving all necessary medical assistance,” Artamonov said.
The Russian defence ministry said on Telegram that its units destroyed 55 Ukrainian drones overnight over five Russian regions and the Black Sea, including three over the Lipetsk region.
The full extent of damage from the attacks is not immediately known.
We mentioned in our last post that Donald Trump had threatened Russia with tariffs and was boosting US weapons for Ukraine.
The 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 the US president 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.”
We’re back with our coverage of the war in Ukraine today.
Yesterday, Donald Trump announced new weapons for Ukraine and threatened sanctions on buyers of Russian exports unless Russia agrees a peace deal.
He said the US would sell “top of the line weapons” to NATO to give to Ukraine.
Sitting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval
Office, Trump also told reporters he was disappointed in Vladimir Putin and that billions of dollars of US weapons would go to Ukraine.
The weapons would include Patriot air defence missiles Ukraine has urgently sought, he said.
While this was taking place, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg was visiting Kyiv to engage in military-level discussions.
His arrival followed the resumption of US military aid shipments to Ukraine, with Zelenskyy calling on allies to strengthen the country’s defence capabilities through weapons support.
We’ll bring you more updates as we get them.
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