Trump also revealed that Putin had recently offered to assist in mediating between Israel and Iran during their brief June conflict — an offer he declined. “I said, ‘No, no, you help me get a settlement with you, with Russia,’” Trump recounted. “And I think we're going to be doing that too.”

Trump’s threats of secondary tariffs are “never going to go anywhere” as long as he is unwilling to impose costs on Moscow directly, Keir Giles, a senior fellow at the London-based Chatham House think tank, told NBC News Monday.

Trump agrees to sell billions in US arms to NATO countries including Germany, Finland and Denmark and others for quick distribution to Ukraine, following his ultimatum to Putin on peace talks.

Donald Trump’s remarks on Ukraine on Monday were far from the biggest announcement the US president could have made.

Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Russian President Vladimir Putin, called Trump's statement "very serious" in his daily press briefing on Tuesday, July 15. Peskov said Putin would need time to analyze Trump's remarks, some of which were directed at him, and to decide whether to comment.