If Putin doesn't sign 30-day ceasefire agreement, US could do bad things to Russia financially: Trump

US President Donald Trump has said he may target Russia financially if it does not agree to a 30-day ceasefire in the war with Ukraine. The Guardian reports that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had earlier called on Trump to take tough action if Moscow did not support the 30-day ceasefire agreed upon during a meeting of Ukrainian and US delegations in Saudi Arabia.

Washington, Kiev and Europe are awaiting Moscow's response to the ceasefire proposal, and US envoys are expected to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin by the end of the week. The Kremlin has not said publicly whether it supports an immediate ceasefire.

"If Putin refuses, I think we can hope for tough steps. I don't know the details yet, but we are talking about sanctions and strengthening Ukraine," Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Trump said he had received “positive messages” about the ceasefire, but “positive messages don’t mean anything.” The White House later announced that Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, would be in Moscow later this week.

"Now it's up to Russia. Our people are heading to Russia right now. And hopefully we can get a ceasefire from Russia," Trump said.

Trump did not directly promise to impose sanctions on Russia if Putin does not sign the agreement, but said he could "do things financially that would be very bad for Russia."

"I don't want to do that because I want to achieve peace," the US president emphasized.