'Dealt with differently': Trump threatens tougher stance on Russia

Washington: On Saturday, United States President Donald Trump expressed more frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin over recent airstrikes on Ukraine, threatening to approach Moscow "differently" and implement "banking" and "secondary" sanctions.

The American President, emphasising his personal ties with Putin as a strategy to end the Russia-Ukraine war, questioned whether President Putin was “tapping me along”, a term for stringing someone along or feigning intentions without genuine commitment.

This criticism of the Russian President followed Trump's recent post on Truth Social, where he urged Putin to cease bombing Ukraine, writing, "Vladimir, Stop," which was widely taken as a rebuke of President Putin.

“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns over the last few days," President Trump wrote on Truth Social, referring to recent sir strikes on Kyiv. "It makes me think that maybe he doesn't want to stop the war, he's just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions’? Too many people are dying!!!"

This post followed President Trump’s Saturday meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Vatican, held before Pope Francis’s funeral.

While no details of their discussion were disclosed, a White House spokesperson described the meeting as “very productive”.

“Good meeting. One-on-one, we managed to discuss a lot. We hope for a result from all the things that were spoken about,” President Zelensky wrote in a social media post. He wrote further that they discussed the “protection of the lives of our people. A complete and unconditional ceasefire. A reliable and lasting peace that will prevent a recurrence of war”.

He added, “It was a very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic if we achieve joint results. Thank you, President Donald Trump!”

Steve Witkoff, who is the Special Envoy for President Trump, met with President Putin in Moscow on Friday.

(inputs from IANS)