U.S. President Donald Trump said on 22 August he will decide within about two weeks whether to toughen the United States’ response to Russia’s war in Ukraine, raising the prospect of “massive sanctions,” “massive tariffs,” or no additional measures at all. He told reporters in the Oval Office that by early September he expects to “know which way I’m going” after gauging Moscow’s and Kyiv’s readiness to advance peace talks. Trump’s self-imposed deadline follows separate meetings last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage and with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington. The White House is pressing the two leaders to hold direct talks; Trump said he is giving Putin “a couple of weeks” to organize a meeting with Zelenskyy and will assess “whose fault it is” if negotiations do not materialise. The president voiced frustration over the continuing conflict and over a recent Russian missile strike that destroyed a U.S.-owned industrial complex in the western Ukrainian city of Mukachevo. “I’m not happy with anything about that war,” he said, adding that the coming decision will be “very important.” Trump’s remarks leave U.S. policy toward the nearly four-year-old war in flux. Allies and markets are watching to see whether Washington intensifies economic pressure on Moscow, imposes new tariffs or steps back from its mediation efforts if no progress is achieved by the early-September cut-off.