Aboard Air Force One, cruising north from a holiday break at Mar-a-Lago, US President Donald Trump was in a familiar posture Sunday – riffing broadly on global crises, disputing Vladimir Putin’s account of events, and signaling that the next phase of US foreign policy will be driven as much by tariffs and leverage as by diplomacy.
What set the tone was Trump’s blunt dismissal of a claim that had briefly rattled delicate Ukraine peace talks: an alleged Ukrainian drone strike on a residence belonging to the Russian president.
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“I don’t believe that strike happened,” Trump told reporters, adding that US officials have since determined Ukraine did not target Putin’s residence – contradicting Moscow’s account and softening Trump’s own earlier reaction.
Trump acknowledged that he initially relayed Putin’s version of events after speaking with the Russian leader, but said the context mattered. “Because nobody knew at that moment,” he explained.
“That was the first we ever heard about it. [Putin] said that his house was attacked. We don’t believe that happened,” he emphsized.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had claimed last week that Ukrainian drones were launched at a state residence in Russia’s Novgorod region and were intercepted by air defenses.
Ukraine swiftly denied responsibility, and European officials privately dismissed the allegation as a bid to derail negotiations.
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Trump, who had first reacted with anger to Putin’s accusation, now framed the episode as resolved – and secondary to what he says is the real tragedy of the war.
“On average, 25,000 to 30,000 soldiers are being killed every single month,” he said, adding, “They’re from Russia, and they’re from Ukraine. And if I could get it stopped, I’d like to get it stopped.”
Peace talks, tariffs
Trump spoke as he returned from two days at his Florida resort, where aides say he balanced downtime with active diplomacy.
He confirmed that Ukraine peace discussions continued there, part of an administration effort centered on a still-evolving 20-point framework.
But Trump’s preferred tool for bending Moscow – and its partners – is increasingly economic.
“The Russian economy is lousy,” he said flatly.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who traveled with Trump on Air Force One, made the case more expansively.
He argued that tariffs – not timelines – are what give the White House leverage, particularly over countries still buying Russian oil.
“If you want to end this conflict, then put pressure on Putin’s customers,” Graham said, pointing to Trump’s decision to impose a 25 percent tariff on India for purchasing Russian crude.
According to Graham, the move is already having an effect. “All [India] wanted to talk about is how they’re buying less Russian oil. This stuff works.”
Graham said a bipartisan bill backed by 85 co-sponsors would give Trump sweeping authority to impose tariffs ranging from zero to 500 percent on countries propping up Russia’s war economy. “Nobody else picks the number,” he said. “The [US] president does.”
No deadlines – and no patience
Trump rejected the idea of imposing a hard deadline on peace talks.
“No deadlines,” he said. “Hopefully not too distant.”
Still, irritation with both sides was evident. Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration that neither Putin nor President Volodymyr Zelensky has yet embraced a deal he says is within reach, despite what he described as progress during Zelensky’s recent visit to Florida.
Putin, meanwhile, has shown little public interest in ending the war absent sweeping concessions, including control over contested territory and limits on Ukraine’s future military.
Trump’s message Sunday was that the US can afford to wait – economically, at least.
He contrasted his approach with that of former President Joe Biden, claiming his administration is now recouping costs through resource deals and repayment arrangements.
“This isn’t an economic thing for us,” Trump said. “This is a soul.”
From Ukraine to Greenland
Foreign policy whiplash is a feature, not a bug, of Trump’s press gaggles – and Sunday was no exception.
Trump revived his long-standing interest in Greenland, framing it as an urgent national security priority.
“We need Greenland from a national security situation,” he said, warning of Russian and Chinese activity in the region. Denmark, he added, “is not going to be able to do it.”
He went further, claiming Europe quietly agrees. “The European Union needs us to have it, and they know that as well.”
Asked about protests in Iran, Trump struck a familiar, ominous note.
“We’re watching it very closely,” he said. “If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they’re going to get hit very hard.”
He did not elaborate on what form that response would take, but the language echoed past threats of US retaliation tied to internal repression.
Venezuela and sweeping vision for US involvement
Trump’s longest and most expansive comments were reserved for Venezuela, which he repeatedly described as a “dead country” and a cautionary tale for the US had he lost reelection.
He outlined a plan that would rely heavily on major oil companies to rebuild Venezuela’s decaying infrastructure, while the US would oversee stabilization before elections are held.
“We’re going to run it, fix it,” Trump said. “Then have elections.”
Pressed on whether that amounted to nation-building – something Trump has long criticized – he rejected the comparison. Venezuela, he argued, is in America’s hemisphere and falls squarely under a revived Monroe Doctrine worldview.
“I gotta have peace,” he said. “It’s our hemisphere.”
By the time Air Force One began its descent toward Washington, Trump had sketched a worldview that was sprawling, transactional, and unapologetically personal – one in which he alone decides which claims to believe, which levers to pull, and which countries are too close, too strategic, or too broken for the US to ignore.
For now, that means brushing aside Putin’s latest allegation, doubling down on tariffs as a diplomatic cudgel, and insisting that, amid the noise, the deal to end the war in Ukraine is still out there – waiting.
