Trump announces Patriots for Ukraine and threatens Putin with 100% tariffs

Ukraine is to receive “massive” supplies of American weapons after President Trump announced a dramatic reversal in White House policy that will also see the Kremlin’s remaining trade partners hit with “very severe” tariffs.

Speaking in Washington alongside Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary-general, Trump said that “billions of dollars” worth of US weapons would be sent to Kyiv under a new arms supply deal. He said that Nato would pay for the weapons.

“We’re going to make top-of-the-line weapons and they’ll be sent to Nato,” Trump said. He added that the weapons would include Patriot air defence systems, which Ukraine urgently needs to defend its cities from Russian ballistic missile strikes.

“We’re going to have some come very soon, within days,” Trump said. “A couple of the countries that have Patriots are going to swap over and will replace the Patriots with the ones they have.” He did not provide further details.

President Trump is hosting Mark Rutte, Nato’s secretary-general, in Washington EVAN VUCC/AP

Rutte said that the deal would mean that Ukraine received “really massive numbers of military equipment, both for air defence, but also missiles, ammunition”.

He said: “If I was Vladimir Putin today, and you’re speaking about what you are planning to do in 50 days … I would reconsider whether I should not take negotiations about Ukraine more seriously.”

Trump also said that he would impose secondary of tariffs of 100 per cent on countries that continue to purchase Russian oil and gas, if President Putin did not agree to a ceasefire or peace deal by early September.

“We’re going to be doing secondary tariffs. If we don’t have a deal in 50 days, it’s very simple, and they’ll be at 100 per cent,” Trump said.

The move would largely hit China and India. Both countries have increased their purchases of Russian energy since Putin sent tanks into Ukraine in 2022, providing the Kremlin with an economic boost during unprecedented western sanctions against Moscow.

The White House caused alarm in Kyiv this month when it said it was pausing some arms deliveries to Ukraine, including Patriot missiles, following a Pentagon review of US weapons stockpiles. US-made Patriot interceptor missiles are the only air-defence systems in Ukraine capable of shooting down Russian ballistic missiles.

Trump said his dramatic shift in policy stemmed from frustration with Putin’s refusal to make compromises to end the war in Ukraine.

“We actually had probably four times a deal. And then the deal wouldn’t happen because bombs would be thrown out that night and you’d say we’re not making any deals,” Trump said.

“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy. He’s fooled a lot of people. He fooled Bush. He fooled a lot of people, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden. He didn’t fool me.

On Sunday the president said: “I haven’t agreed on the number yet but they’re going to have some [Patriot missiles] because they do need protection. [Putin] talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening.”

Trump says US will send Patriot missiles to Ukraine

The Kremlin has yet to comment. However, Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s envoy, dismissed what he said were efforts to drive a wedge between Moscow and Washington.

“Constructive dialogue between Russia and the United States is more effective than doomed-to-fail attempts at pressure,” he wrote on Telegram. “This dialogue will continue, despite titanic efforts to disrupt it by all possible means.”

Later on Monday, President Zelensky said he had spoken to Trump and thanked him.

“It was a very good conversation. I thanked him for his readiness to support Ukraine and to continue working together to stop the killings and establish a lasting and just peace,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

While he is in Washington Rutte is also expected to meet Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, and Marco Rubio, secretary of state.

“We basically are going to send them various pieces of very sophisticated military and they’re going to pay us 100 per cent for them. It’ll be business for us,” Trump said.

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Trump’s threat of tariffs is unlikely to please Republican senators who had been calling for a “sledgehammer” option of secondary sanctions that would result in tariffs of 500 per cent on Russia’s economic allies.

Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator, said the bipartisan bill would allow the White House “to go after Putin’s economy, and all those countries who prop up the Putin war machine”.

In Kyiv General Kellogg, Trump’s envoy, began a visit that coincided with intensified Russian drone and missile attacks against the Ukrainian capital. Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, said talks during Kellogg’s visit would cover air defence, weapons and sanctions against Moscow.

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“Russia does not want a ceasefire. Peace through strength is President Trump’s principle, and we support this approach,” Yermak said.

Moscow has said it would agree to a peace deal only if the “root causes” of the war were eliminated. The term is a Kremlin byword for a pro-western government in Kyiv.

President Zelensky and Yulia Svyrydenko AFP/GETTY IMAGES

In domestic politics, President Zelensky is setting the stage for a cabinet reshuffle, asking Yulia Svyrydenko, his economics minister, to lead a new government as the country’s prime minister — a move that will have to be approved by parliament.

Svyrydenko, 39, has been in her post since shortly before Russia’s invasion in 2022. She gained international prominence this year after playing a vital role in a deal that provided Washington with access to Ukraine’s valuable minerals.

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Zelensky said she would be given the task of overseeing a scaling-up of Ukraine’s domestic weapons production. Kyiv produces more than 40 per cent of all its weapons but relies on western countries for interceptors and long-range missiles.

It is thought that Denys Shmyhal, the present prime minister, will replace Rustem Umerov, the defence minister, in the expected reshuffle. Umerov is in the running to become Ukraine’s new ambassador to the United States.

Berlin welcomed the “very positive signs” from Washington over the new shipment of Patriot missiles. The defence ministry said: “Discussions are now being held on the modalities of implementation, i.e. how many [Patriot] systems there will be, who will take them over and how they will be financed.”