By Agence France-Presse

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday (August 26) he is prepared to impose economic sanctions against Russia if Vladimir Putin fails to agree to a ceasefire, warning of serious consequences.

“We want to have an end. We have economic sanctions. I’m talking about economic because we’re not going to get into a world war,” Trump said.

Thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been killed in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine that Russia launched in 2022. Analysts estimate that more than a million soldiers on both sides have been killed or wounded and fighting is continuing unabated, with both sides also attacking energy facilities.

Russia has maintained its longstanding demand for Ukraine to give up land it still holds in two eastern regions while proposing to freeze the front line in two more southerly regions Moscow claims fully as its own and possibly hand back small pieces of other Ukrainian territory it controls.

Zelensky says Russia must end war, after Trump pressures Ukraine