‘I tell the First Lady, I spoke to Vladimir’: Trump complains Putin’s ‘lovely’ calls often end with missile strikes

US President Donald Trump has warned Russia of harsh economic retaliation if it fails to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine within 50 days, revealing frustration over what he called misleading conversations with Vladimir Putin.

Trump reveals calls with Putin were ‘pleasant’, but followed by attacks

Speaking from the Oval Office on Monday, Trump said his phone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin were always “very pleasant”, but often followed by missile strikes on Ukrainian cities.

“My conversations with him are always very pleasant,” Trump told reporters. “I say, isn’t that a very lovely conversation? And then the missiles go off that night. I go home. I tell the First Lady, you know, I spoke to Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation. She said, ‘Oh, really? Another city was just hit.’”

He added, “So it’s like, look, he’s, I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy. He’s fooled a lot of people. He fooled Bush. He fooled a lot of people. He fooled Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden. He didn’t fool me.”

Trump threatens ‘very severe’ tariffs on Russia

The US President said he had lost patience with Putin and announced a 100% tariff on Russian goods if there is no progress towards peace within 50 days. “We’ve very, very unhappy with them, and we’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days,” Trump said. “Tariffs at about 100 percent. You can call them secondary tariffs,” he added.

He said the decision came after realising that Russia was not taking negotiations seriously. “We’re hearing so much talk, it’s all talk,” he said. “And then missiles launched into Kyiv or some other city. And I said, strange,” he added.

Trump says Putin ‘didn’t fool me’

Trump described Putin as someone who uses charm to mislead global leaders. “I speak to him a lot about getting this thing done,” Trump explained. “And I always hang up and say, well, that was a nice phone call. And then missiles launched into Kyiv or some other city.” “I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy. He fooled a lot of people… He didn’t fool me,” Trump added.

Trump’s warning to Russia came during his meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House. During the meeting, Trump also announced a weapons deal with NATO countries, saying the US would manufacture military equipment that European allies would pay for and send to Ukraine.