US President Donald Trump has suggested that imposing additional sanctions on Russia was “likely” if President Vladimir Putin refused to engage in peace talks.
His comments on January 21 came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Europe to take a more proactive role in the confict with Russia.
Zelensky had pushed for a substantial international troop presence in Ukraine to enforce a potential ceasefire during the January 20-24 World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.
Trump expressed his willingness to engage directly with both Zelensky and Putin. “We’re talking to Zelensky and we’ll be speaking with Putin soon to see how things unfold,” he said.
He also signalled openness to reconsidering the delivery of additional US arms to Ukraine but emphasised that peace required co-operation.
“Zelensky wants peace but it takes two to tango,” Trump said.
The US President revealed he had urged Chinese President Xi Jinping to be more active in resolving the conflict.
“I told him he should get involved because he hasn’t done much so far and he has significant influence,” Trump stated.
For his part, Zelensky has called for a robust European response, proposing the deployment of at least 200,000 troops to Ukraine as a peacekeeping force.
“Anything less would be meaningless,” Zelensky said during a press conference following his appearance at the WEF Forum in Davos attended by numerous European Union leaders.
Media reports indicated that the UK and France have been considering troop deployments if hostilities paused. Zelensky has strongly supported such moves as being essential to achieving a sustainable peace.
Zelensky also warned Western nations about the potential consequences of inaction, predicting that Russian aggression could escalate further. He claimed Putin was capable of mobilising up to two million troops for any future offensive against NATO countries.
“Without solid security guarantees — be it NATO membership or a military presence and long-range weapons — Putin will return with an army ten times larger than in 2022,” Zelensky asserted.
Moscow has dismissed his demands for international military deployments as provocative and has accused Washington of driving the crisis by ignoring Russia’s long-standing security concerns.
Putin himself has reiterated that NATO’s presence near Russia’s borders posed a direct threat to its sovereignty. “We cannot allow our security to be compromised by foreign powers exploiting Ukraine as a staging ground for their ambitions,” he said in a recent televised address.
Zelensky rejected Moscow’s claims, calling them a distraction from the real issue of Russian aggression. “Russia is the invader. There’s no justification for their actions and no amount of propaganda will change that,” he declared.
COMMENT: The stubbornly short-sighted attitude of many contemporary Western European policymakers misrepresents Trump’s stance on Ukraine, writes @ConradMBlack. https://t.co/nBSLVgA8h6
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) January 22, 2025
