Russian President Vladimir Putin has not yet made a public comment concerning the 50-day deadline set by President Donald Trump. However, a top official indicated on Tuesday that the response from Moscow might be one of indifference, stating that Russia “didn’t care.”
The Kremlin’s initial reaction to the joint declaration from Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte was shared by Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chair of Russia’s security council and former Russian President, via a post on X. The announcement stated that Putin has 50 days to cease the conflict in Ukraine or Russia will face a 100% tariff imposition.
President Donald Trump and Mark Rutte, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, were pictured shaking hands during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Monday, July 14, 2025. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko also questioned the effectiveness of the move and told German news outlet ARD that “I’m happy about the wave of support from the U.S.”
“But on the other hand, I do not understand why Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin is being given 50 days,” he added, according to a translation by Ukrainian media outlets, Kyiv Independent.
“In 50 days, many more people could be killed in the capital and, throughout Ukraine, many more buildings could be damaged,” he said. “Therefore, why such a delay?”
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko holds people away from a five-story residential building that partially collapsed after a shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 18, 2022. (Photo by SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump told reporters on Monday that he was frustrated by Putin’s lack of action when it came to stopping his war in Ukraine despite four separate occasions when the president thought a deal had been reached with the Kremlin chief.
“I speak to him a lot about getting this thing done, and I always hang up saying, ‘Well, that was a nice phone call,’ and then missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and I’d say ‘strange,'” Trump said, recounting his conversations with Putin.
“And after that happens three or four times, you say, the talk doesn’t mean anything.”
