President Trump said he believes the three-year war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year, would end if all NATO countries stopped purchasing Russian oil and imposed tariffs on China for buying Russian petroleum. His statement came as Romania became the second NATO country to report a Russian drone incursion.
On Saturday, Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social a letter he claimed to have sent to NATO, saying he is “ready to do major Sanctions on Russia” if all NATO members halt oil purchases from Moscow. He criticized the alliance for showing “far less than 100%” commitment to winning the war and called some members’ reliance on Russian oil “shocking.”
“It greatly weakens your negotiation position, and bargaining power, over Russia,” Mr. Trump wrote.
Since 2023, Turkey has ranked as the third-largest buyer of Russian oil among NATO members, following China and India, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. Other NATO countries purchasing Russian oil include Hungary and Slovakia.
Mr. Trump’s letter landed during a tense moment for NATO after multiple Russian drones entered Polish airspace. Poland shot down several drones, viewing it as an escalatory move by Moscow.
Earlier this week, Mr. Trump appeared to downplay the incident, suggesting the incursion might not have been intentional.
“It could have been a mistake,” he told reporters late Thursday.
A day earlier, he reacted on Truth Social: “What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!”
The White House declined to clarify his comments, while Poland’s top officials dismissed his suggestion of a mistake.
On Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in Tel Aviv that NATO responded to the drones “appropriately.” He called it an “unacceptable and unfortunate and dangerous development.”
“There’s no doubt about the drones were intentionally launched,” he said. “The question is whether the drones were targeted to go into Poland specifically. If that’s the case, that if the evidence leads us there, then, obviously, that’ll be a highly explanatory move.”
Polish and allied aircraft launched a “preventive” operation in Poland’s airspace Saturday because of possible drone strikes near the Ukrainian border. Authorities temporarily closed the airport in Lublin, in eastern Poland. The alert lasted around two hours.
Poland’s operational command posted on X that air defense and reconnaissance systems remained on high alert. It stressed that the measures were “preventive in nature” to secure Polish airspace and protect citizens, citing possible drone strikes in bordering regions of Ukraine.
Separately, Romania said it scrambled two F-16 jets to intercept a drone that briefly entered its airspace Saturday afternoon.
“The drone did not fly over inhabited areas and did not represent an imminent danger to the security of the population,” the defense ministry said.
Romanian officials said specialist teams would search for debris but did not identify the drone’s origin.
During his presidential campaign, Mr. Trump promised to end the war quickly. Some lawmakers are pressing him to back a bill toughening sanctions after his recent meeting with Putin in Alaska failed to produce progress toward peace.
In his Truth Social post, Mr. Trump argued that a NATO ban on Russian oil plus tariffs on China would “also be of great help in ENDING this deadly, but RIDICULOUS, WAR.”
He urged NATO members to impose 50% to 100% tariffs on China and lift them only if Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine comes to an end.
“China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia,” he wrote, insisting that heavy tariffs “will break that grip.”
The U.S. president has already imposed an extra 25% import tax on Indian goods, saying it punishes New Delhi for buying Russian energy products.
Mr. Trump also blamed the war on his predecessor Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. As in past remarks, he did not include Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the invasion.
His post followed a call Friday with finance ministers from the Group of Seven. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged their counterparts to maintain a “unified front” to cut off “the revenues funding Putin’s war machine,” Greer’s office said.
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