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       MOSCOW: The Kremlin warned on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump’s pledge of more weapons for Kyiv and threat of sanctions targeting Russian trading partners could embolden Ukraine and further delay already stalled peace efforts.

       Trump a day earlier gave Russia 50 days to strike a peace deal with Ukraine, voicing fresh frustration with Moscow as he laid out an arrangement with Nato to supply Kyiv with new military aid sponsored by the alliance’s members.

       The Republican forced Moscow and Kyiv to open peace talks to end the conflict, now in its fourth year, but Russia has rejected calls for a ceasefire and launched a record number of drones and missiles at Ukraine in recent months.

       Moscow said it needed more time to respond fully to Trump’s statement, but hinted it did not appear conducive to successful negotiations. “It seems that such a decision made in Washington and in Nato countries and directly in Brussels will be perceived by Kyiv not as a signal for peace but for the continuation of the war,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

       “President Trump’s statement is very serious. We certainly need time to analyse what was said in Washington,” he told reporters in Moscow’s first reaction to the comments.

       Trump warned that if no deal was concluded, he would slap severe tariffs on Russia’s remaining trade partners in a bid to impede Moscow’s ability to finance its military offensive. Pumped up by huge state spending on soldiers and weapons, as well as by redirecting vital energy exports to the likes of China and India, Russia’s economy has so far defied Western hopes sanctions would push it into a deep recession.

       Two rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine, held in Turkiye in recent months, have made no progress towards ending the fighting and yielded only large-scale prisoner exchanges.

       Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2025