Washington, D.C.: On Thursday, July 31, 2025, US President Donald Trump strongly condemned Russia’s ongoing military actions in Ukraine as “disgusting” and warned of more penalties. This came after a round of Russian strikes on Kyiv killed at least 18 people. Washington has given Moscow a hard deadline of August 8 to stop fighting in Ukraine, or else it would face harsh economic sanctions.
“I think what Russia is doing is disgusting.” “I think it’s disgusting,” President Trump told reporters, showing how angry he was over the long-running war.
Witkoff, the special envoy, will go to Russia.
As part of the increasing pressure, Trump said that his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who is now in Israel, would next go to Russia. Witkoff, a real estate developer with no background in diplomacy, has become an important ambassador for the Trump administration in Moscow. He has met with Russian President Vladimir Putin several times in the past. These earlier attempts to improve relations with the Kremlin had mostly failed, but Witkoff’s planned visit shows that diplomacy is back on the table, along with threats of punishment.
Ultimatum of sanctions and “secondary tariffs”
President Trump said again that Russia has until August 8 to agree to a peace deal with Ukraine or face harsh new sanctions. “We’re going to put sanctions on.” The President of the United States added, “I don’t think sanctions bother him,” referring to Putin. This shows that the Russian leader is thought to be able to handle economic pressure.
Trump has said before that these new steps might include “secondary tariffs” that would affect Russia’s other trading partners, such China and India. Secondary sanctions are meant to punish people or businesses outside of the country that is imposing the sanctions that keep doing business with countries or organizations that are already under sanctions. If these steps were taken, they would try to hurt Russia’s economy even more by making it harder for it to trade, but they might also cause big problems for other countries, especially big ones that rely on Russian exports or energy.
The US President started his second term with hopeful expectations that the conflict in Ukraine, which has been going on since Russia invaded in February 2022, would soon be over. But in the past few weeks, Trump has become more and more angry with Putin about Moscow’s ongoing attack, which has led to this latest, more forceful approach.
As the date for this ultimatum approaches, people will be paying close attention to what happens next. Witkoff’s next diplomatic mission might have a big impact on the course of the war, which has been going on for more than three years.