LONDON — Russia continued its nightly bombardment of Ukraine overnight into Tuesday, shortly after President Donald Trump announced his decision to supply Ukraine with new military equipment and White House threats of further economic measures against Moscow.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces downed at least 66 Ukrainian drones overnight into Tuesday morning. Among the areas targeted was the southwestern Voronezh region which borders northeastern Ukraine. At least 16 people were injured there, Gov. Aleksandr Gusev said on Telegram.
Dmitry Medvedev — — the former Russian president and prime minister now serving as the deputy chairman of the country’s Security Council — wrote on social media that the Kremlin was unmoved by what he called Trump’s “theatrical ultimatum.”
“The world shuddered, expecting the consequences,” Medvedev wrote. “Belligerent Europe was disappointed. Russia didn’t care.”
Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Monday that he would impose “severe tariffs” — though it was not entirely clear if the president was referring to tariffs, sanctions or both — against Russia and its trading partners if a ceasefire deal is not reached in 50 days.
Trump also said he had approved a new tranche of weapons to Ukraine worth “billions of dollars.” But details of what Trump called a “very big deal” remain unclear. Two U.S. defense officials told ABC News on Monday that the Pentagon was still working on exactly what military aid could be sent to Ukraine.
The defense officials said 17 Patriot surface-to-air missile systems that Trump mentioned would come entirely from European allies, who would then purchase new replacement systems from the U.S.
The Patriot systems — of which Ukraine currently has at least six, two of which were provided by the U.S. and four by other NATO allies — have become a key in Ukraine’s defense against Russian drone, missile and airstrikes since they arrived in the country in 2023.
“We’re going to have some come very soon, within days,” Trump said when asked how long the new batch of American weapons would take to arrive. On Patriots specifically, the president said, “They’re going to start arriving very soon.”
Trump’s announcement came after months of rising frustration in the White House over Russia’s intensifying bombardments of Ukraine and its failure to commit to a full ceasefire.
Speaking on Sunday, Trump said of Russian President Vladimir Putin, “He talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening. There’s a little bit of a problem there.”
But questions remain about Trump’s threat to impose 100% “secondary tariffs” on nations doing business with Russia. The US has negligible imports from Russia, which account for around 0.2% of U.S. imports, according to Census Bureau data.
The threat of secondary tariffs or sanctions on Russia’s trading partners appears more significant, though may prompt retaliatory measures against the U.S. China and India, for example, are among Moscow’s customers for its fossil fuel exports.
Despite the open questions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had a “very good conversation” with Trump on Monday. “Thank you for your willingness to support Ukraine and continue to work together to stop the killings and establish a lasting and just peace,” he wrote on social media.
“We discussed with the president the necessary means and solutions to provide more protection for people from Russian attacks and strengthen our positions,” Zelenskyy continued. “We are ready to work as productively as possible to achieve peace.”
Oleksandr Merezhko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament representing Zelenskyy’s party and the chair of the body’s foreign affairs committee, told ABC News he was “cautiously optimistic,” hoping that Monday’s news indicated the beginning of a “maximum pressure” campaign on Putin by Trump.
“The whole situation is a win-win-win situation for Trump, Ukraine and Europe,” he said. “However, the 50-day deadline is of some concern, because Putin might take it as a green light to intensify offensive operations.”
Russia’s summer offensive is already underway, according to the Ukrainian military, with Moscow’s forces pushing for more territory all across the front. Russian efforts are particularly concentrated in the eastern Donetsk and Sumy regions, Kyiv has said.
“To prevent it from happening it is crucially important to provide Ukraine without delay, now, with the maximum military assistance,” Merezhko said, “including offensive weaponry like long-range missiles, for instance Tomahawks.”
Ukrainian backers also in the Senate urged Trump to build on Monday’s announcement.
“This announcement, by itself, will not be enough to bring Putin to the negotiating table and finally end this war,” Senate Foreign Relations Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said in a statement sent to ABC News.
“President Trump needs to commit to a sustained flow of security assistance to Ukraine over the long-term,” she added. “And we must move immediately on the tough sanctions package in the Senate, which has overwhelming bipartisan support and will make it harder and harder for Putin to prop up his economy and sustain his illegal war.”
That bipartisan Senate proposal — fronted by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. — proposed secondary sanctions of up to 500% on nations doing business with Russia, though according to Graham it will include an option allowing Trump to waive sanctions on individual nations.
In a post to X, Graham said Trump “put the countries who fund Putin’s war machine on notice: stop financially supporting the war in Ukraine or face 100% tariffs. If I were them, I would take President Trump at his word.”
Asked on Monday whether he would adopt the Senate’s blueprint, Trump told reporters, “We could do secondary tariffs without the Senate, without the House. But what they’re crafting also could be very good.”
ABC News’ Luis Martinez, Anne Flaherty, Zunaira Zaki, Soo Youn and Shannon K. Kingston contributed to this report.
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