The US president claims he does not want to impose new sanctions on Moscow but still shortened the deadline for a Ukraine peace deal

US President Donald Trump has expressed his "love" for Russians and called them a "great people." At the same time, he threatened Moscow with more sanctions and set a new deadline for settling the Ukraine conflict.

Trump maintained he had "always gotten along with [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin" during a Q&A session with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Turnberry, Scotland on Monday. He praised Russia as a "rich" nation that could be "thriving like practically no other country" and spoke about the massive trade potential between Russia and the US.

"I don't want to do that to Russia, I love the Russian people," he said when asked about potential new sanctions against Moscow.

He expressed his disappointment over the slow pace of the peace process between Moscow and Kiev and accused Russia of striking Ukrainian cities. Trump said he was "not interested in talking anymore" as his numerous "respectful and nice conversations" with Putin led to nothing.

Trump's words came as he set a new deadline for a Ukraine peace deal, which he said should be reached in "10 or 12 days" from Monday. Otherwise, Washington would impose new sanctions on Moscow. The previous deadline was expected to expire in early September.

The new sanctions would include secondary restrictions and tariffs on countries and entities doing business with Russia.

Moscow has repeatedly stated throughout the conflict that it is open for dialogue and could start negotiations without any preconditions as long as the situation on the ground is taken into account and the root causes of the conflict are addressed. Earlier this month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Ukraine conflict was a "difficult" one to resolve and cannot be settled "instantly."

Russia also warned that Trump's new sanctions threats serve primarily "as signals to continue the war" for Kiev and called on Washington to exert pressure on Ukraine instead. Russia and Ukraine renewed direct talks in Istanbul in May and have since held three rounds of negotiations but have not reached an agreement on a ceasefire yet.

(RT.com)