Putin would have 'played' Trump if he doesn't meet Zelensky: Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron said that Russian President Vladimir Putin would have "played" Donald Trump if he did not meet his Ukrainian counterpart as he promised to the American president. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz added it looked like Putin was “unwilling” to hold such a meeting and said that the war looked like it would last “many more months”.

This came after Trump renewed his threat to Russia, saying he will impose economic penalties on the country if Vladimir Putin refuses a Ukraine ceasefire deal. “It will not be a world war but it will be an economic war,” Trump said on Tuesday (August 26) of the actions that he may eventually take. “It’s going to be bad for Russia," he added. Although he did not set any fresh timetable for following through.

But he quickly added that he didn’t want to impose new sanctions or tariffs aimed at hurting the Russian economy, expressing hope that there was still a path toward brokering a deal to end the war.

Trump also said it takes "two people t tango". He said, "you got to get them together." The American president added that his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, "isn not exactly innocent either."

"It’s no different than the worst wars that I’ve ever seen, and if I can stop it – because I have a certain power or a certain relationship – I had a very good relationship with President Putin, very, very good. That’s a positive thing again," Trump said.