Donald Trump issues 2-word slapdown to Vladimir Putin on Ukraine ceasefire

Donald Trump has delivered a lacklustre ultimatum to Vladimir Putin, stating it would be "too bad" if Russia doesn't agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine.

Addressing reporters at the White House South Lawn on Tuesday, Trump maintained his stance from the previous day when he threatened Moscow with "secondary tariffs" of up to 100% should they not strike a deal within 50 days.

Despite past tensions with Zelensky and being notably reticent about criticising Putin, Trump has taken a U-turn on the war by aligning the US to send top-tier Patriot missiles to Kyiv via its European allies.

Hardening his stance further, Trump voiced earlier this week that he was "disappointed" in the Russian leader and reiterated his tariff threats on Tuesday. When questioned about potential repercussions for Russia failing to reach a settlement with Ukraine, Trump answered: "Well at the end of 50 days if we don't have a deal, it's going to be too bad."

He elaborated that tariffs and additional sanctions would ensue if Putin chose to prolong hostilities. As for shifting allegiances towards Ukraine, Trump insisted: "No, I'm on nobodies side."

The former President made it unequivocally clear where his loyalties lie, emphatically stating: "You know whose side I'm on? Humanity's side, I want to stop the killing of thousands of people a week. I want to stop the killing. I want the killing to stop in the Ukraine-Russia war, that's the side I'm on.", reports the Mirror.

He continued with a pointed critique: "We're going to see what happens with President Putin. So far I've been very disappointed with President Putin. I've solved a lot of wars in the last three months, but I haven't got this one yet. This is a Biden war, it's not a Trump war, I'm here to try and get us out of that mess."

Nevertheless, Trump seemed to play down the speculation concerning his provision of advanced military aid to Ukraine that would enable attacks deep into Russian territory-a move some assert could coerce Putin into peace talks.

When questioned about the potential of sending more expansive weaponry to Ukraine, his response was curt: "We're not looking to do that."

These comments were shared with journalists as Trump prepared to leave the White House for an energy summit in Pittsburgh.