WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he is considering "very serious" economic sanctions against Russia if it rejects a ceasefire in the conflict in Ukraine that has lasted three and a half years.
"It's very, very serious what I have in mind, if I have to do it, but I want to see it end," Trump was quoted as saying by media reports, in response to a reporter asking if Russian President Vladimir Putin would face consequences should he fail to agree to a ceasefire.
"We have economic sanctions. I'm talking about economic because we're not going to get into a world war," he added.
Trump has long threatened sanctions against Russia and is trying to mediate a one-to-one meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, for which the Kremlin has said conditions have not been ready.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday that deploying foreign troops in Ukraine is unacceptable to Russia, as the United States and Europe work to provide security guarantees for Kiev.
The foreign minister also noted on Aug 19 that Russia does not reject any formats, either bilateral or trilateral, on resolving the conflict in Ukraine.
Also on Tuesday, US president's special envoy Steve Witkoff said Tuesday that he will meet with representatives from Ukraine in New York this week as diplomatic efforts continue to seek an end to the Ukraine conflict.
"I'm meeting with the Ukrainians this week. So I will be meeting with them this week in New York," Witkoff said in an interview with Fox News.
The US envoy said that US and Russian officials remain in regular contact. "We are hopeful that by the end of this year, we actually, and maybe quite a bit sooner, we actually, can find the ingredients to get to that peace deal."
According to Witkoff, Ukraine is considering Russia's peace proposal, while Moscow has expressed a desire to resolve the conflict.
He noted that the Ukraine conflict is more complicated than territorial disputes alone, and that final decisions will be made by Kyiv, not Washington.
