President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened "devastating" financial penalties for Russia if President Vladimir Putin does not agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine.
"There are things that wouldn't be pleasant in a financial sense. I can do things financially that would be very bad for Russia. I don't want to do that because I want to get peace," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
"In a financial sense, yes, we could do things that would be very bad for Russia, that would be devastating for Russia. But I don't want to do that because I want to see peace. And we’re getting close to maybe getting something done. We got Ukraine done. And, as you know, Ukraine might have been the more difficult party. You were here a week ago when some interesting things happened. I had somebody who didn’t seem to want peace. Now he's agreed to peace."
Trump also said "people are going to Russia right now as we speak and hopefully, we can get a ceasefire from Russia. If we do, I think that would be 80% of the way to getting this horrible bloodbath" ended.