Ukrainian foreign minister: Ukraine welcomes Trump's strong messages about Russia

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that Ukraine welcomes the strong statements made by US President Donald Trump regarding the need to end Russia's war against Ukraine.

As reported by Interfax-Ukraine, on 22 January, Donald Trump said that if a deal to end the war in Ukraine was not reached soon, he would have no choice but to impose high taxes, tariffs and sanctions on everything Russia sells to the United States and other countries that are concerned.

"It was a really strong message and a strong signal. We need to increase the pressure on Russia and force Russia to negotiate. We need US leadership. We need more engagement from the USA. That’s one point," the minister said at the Ukraine: The Road Ahead on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Sybiha also stressed the need to raise the price for Russia's further aggression. In particular, he noted that Russia needs to be weakened, for example, through a strong sanctions policy.

The third point, as Sybiha said, is the need to strengthen Ukraine. The foreign minister emphasised that "we need this deterrence package to stabilise the situation firstly on the battlefield, to strengthen our military and defence capacities".

"We really welcome such strong messages from President Trump. And we believe that he will be the winner. And we believe that we have an additional chance to improve the dynamic in the diplomatic efforts to end this war and achieve a long-lasting, just and comprehensive peace," Sybiha said.

On the first day of his second presidency term, Trump said that Vladimir Putin was destroying Russia by not ending the war.

Later, the US president announced that he was ready to consider tougher sanctions against Russia if it did not agree to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.