Trump Says He "Will Step In Very Strongly" If Russia, Ukraine Skip Talks

US President Donald Trump on Monday warned of "great consequences" if Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fail to hold talks, while asserting that the ongoing war would not have occurred under his leadership.

On being asked if there will be consequences if the two leaders do not meet, Trump said, "... There will be great consequences... This war would have never taken place if I were President... We will see what happens over the next week or two, and at that point I will step in very strongly..."

His latest warning follows remarks made last week when Trump said that he would be taking a "very important decision" in the next two weeks on the Russia-Ukraine war, hinting at the possibility of imposing "massive sanctions or tariffs" on Moscow or telling Kyiv that "it's not Washington's war."

Trump said that his decision is dependent on what happens in the next two weeks and pushed for a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Speaking to the reporters at the Oval Office, Donald Trump said, "In two weeks, we are going to know which way I am going because I'm going to go one way or another. It's going to be a very important decision. I'm going to decide whether it's not massive sanctions or massive tariffs or both, or do we do nothing and say it's your fight?"

"It takes two to tango. I wanted to have a meeting with those two. We'll see if they don't have a meeting, then why it was so, after I told them to have a meeting," he added.

When asked about a US factory reportedly hit in Ukraine during recent Russian missile attacks, Donald Trump said, "I'm not happy about it, and I'm not happy about anything about that war. I've settled seven wars, and if you think about pre-wars, that'll be three, so 10 wars. Not happy at all. Over the next two weeks we are going to find out which way it's going to go."

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Vladimir Putin is ready to meet Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, provided all issues relating to the settlement of the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv are thoroughly worked out.

Lavrov told RT on Thursday, "The Russian president repeatedly said that he is ready to meet, including with Zelensky, if there is an understanding that all issues that require consideration at the highest level have been worked out thoroughly" by experts and ministers. 

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