President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened “extreme penalties” in opposition to Russia if Vladimir Putin didn’t comply with cease his battle on Ukraine.
“There can be penalties,” Trump mentioned on the Kennedy Middle in Washington as he took questions on his assembly on Friday with Russia’s president in Alaska.
Trump didn’t elaborate on what these penalties can be. When requested in the event that they would come with sanctions or tariffs, Trump solely mentioned he did not should say.
The feedback got here after a digital convention between Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders. Trump described the dialog with the leaders as “very pleasant” and European leaders mentioned afterward Trump advised them he would press Putin for a ceasefire.
President Donald Trump takes a query from the press throughout a go to to the Kennedy Middle in Washington, August 13, 2025.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Photos
Zelenskyy, talking in Berlin on Wednesday after the decision, mentioned he suggested Trump and different officers that Putin is “bluffing” in pursuing peace.
“I advised my colleagues, the U.S. president and our European mates, that Putin positively doesn’t need peace. He needs the occupation of our nation. And all of us actually perceive that. Putin won’t be able to deceive anybody. We’d like additional strain for peace. Not solely American, but additionally European sanctions,” Zelenskyy mentioned.
“We talked concerning the assembly in Alaska,” Zelenskyy added. “We hope that the central subject of the assembly can be a ceasefire. A direct ceasefire. The U.S. president has repeatedly mentioned this. He advised to me that after the assembly in Alaska we could have contact. And we are going to focus on all the outcomes, if there are any. And we are going to decide the following mutual steps.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attend a chat of European leaders with the US President on the Ukraine battle forward of the summit between the US and Russian leaders, August 13, 2025.
John MacDougall/Pool/AFP through Getty Photos
Although particulars of Friday’s assembly are nonetheless being ironed out, Putin and Trump are scheduled to fulfill at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, a White Home official confirmed to ABC Information.
Trump on Wednesday mentioned it was not his name to not invite Zelenskyy to Friday’s summit, and that he subsequent needs to see a gathering between Zelenskyy and Putin in addition to the U.S. if essential.
“There’s an excellent probability that we will have a second assembly, which can be extra productive than the primary, as a result of the primary is — I’ll discover out the place we’re and what we’re doing,” Trump mentioned.
Requested if he believes he might persuade Putin to cease focusing on civilians in Ukraine, Trump mentioned no and repeated the frustration he is expressed about Putin previously few weeks.
Trump on the identical time advised a second assembly will not happen if he does not get what he wants from Putin.
“Now, there could also be no second assembly as a result of if I really feel that it is not applicable to have it as a result of I did not get the solutions that we’ve got to have, then we’re not going to have a second assembly,” Trump mentioned.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a gathering with head of the Federal Taxation Service Daniil Yegorov on the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia August 13, 2025.
Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool through Reuters
Zelenskyy is pushing for for a three-way assembly between Russia, Ukraine and america, arguing it’s “unattainable to resolve this with out Ukraine.”
European governments have expressed their help for Ukraine in any coming peace negotiations, urging Trump to facilitate European and Ukrainian involvement in any such discussions.
French President Emmanuel Macron mentioned on Wednesday that Trump “was very clear on the truth that the what america needs is to acquire a ceasefire throughout this assembly in Alaska.”
“The second component that was very clearly expressed by President Trump is that the territorial issues from Ukraine can and can solely be negotiated by the Ukrainian president,” Macron continued. “That is the place that we help, and it has been very clearly expressed by President Trump, and so this heralds our conferences sooner or later.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer mentioned “actual progress” was made within the digital assembly and mentioned the coalition was able to help Friday’s assembly between Trump and Putin.
Starmer additionally mentioned the group is able to implement plans if a ceasefire is reached, together with safety ensures for Ukraine as soon as the hostilities have stopped.
A lady walks previous a closely broken residential constructing following a Russian strike within the city of Bilozerske, Donetsk area of Ukraine, on August 12, 2025.
Genya Savilov/AFP through Getty Photos
Throughout a information convention in Moscow on Wednesday, the Russian Ministry of International Affairs deputy spokesperson Alexei Fadeev mentioned Russia considers “the consultations requested by the Europeans as politically and virtually insignificant.”
Fadeev additionally mentioned Russia’s stance on ending the battle in Ukraine has not modified since Putin laid out his circumstances final yr: the complete withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from elements of the Ukrainian areas of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson that they nonetheless management, and Ukraine abandoning its plans to affix the NATO alliance.
Fadeev advised reporters that the upcoming assembly between Putin and Trump in Alaska will permit the 2 leaders to concentrate on discussing all present points between their nations, from the Ukraine battle to the normalization of relations.
Lengthy-range strikes by Russia and Ukraine continued in a single day into Wednesday.
Ukraine’s air power mentioned Russia launched 49 drones and two North Korean-made ballistic missiles into the nation in a single day, of which 32 drones and each missiles had been shot down or suppressed. Russia’s Protection Ministry, in the meantime, mentioned its forces shot down 63 Ukrainian drones in a single day.
ABC Information’ Kelsey Walsh, Natalia Kushnir, Anna Sergeeva, Yulia Drozd, Hannah Demissie, Morgan Winsor and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
