The president’s call for Ukraine to avoid hitting Moscow continued his pattern of swinging between pressure on both sides to end the war and underscored the uncertainties about his strategy.

Donald Trump has said Volodymyr Zelensky should not target Moscow after reportedly privately discussing strikes on the Russian capital with the Ukrainian leader."No, he shouldn't target Moscow," Mr Trump told reporters yesterday on the South Lawn of the White House when asked if Mr Zelensky should attack the Russian capital.

Trump wanted to "make them feel the pain," as he put it on the July 4 call, the Financial Times reported, and force Russia into peace negotiations. Zelensky said Ukraine could hit the cities if the U.S. supplied the weapons, per the Post.

The White House confirmed that Trump and Zelenskyy discussed whether Ukraine would be able to strike Moscow and St. Petersburg with U.S.-supplied weapons.

President Donald Trump’s ultimatum to Russia to accept a peace deal in Ukraine within 50 days or face bruising sanctions on its energy exports has given the Kremlin extra time to pursue its summer offensive.

The latest advances come after U.S. President Donald Trump set Moscow a 50-day deadline to make peace, or he would introduce deeper sanctions against the Russian economy, including a punitive secondary tariff on its trading partners.

That included a Monday joint statement from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal calling Trump’s threat of ramped-up economic penalties if Russia doesn’t cut a peace deal in next 50 days “a real executive hammer to drive the parties to the negotiating table.”

President Donald Trump may have expected a Russian shudder of fear to greet his threat of “very severe tariffs” on the country if it didn’t agree a ceasefire in Ukraine.

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (Jul 15) warned Russia it has 50 days to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine or face fresh sanctions, even as the European Union failed to approve its