US White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday (Aug 20) said that President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on India to put additional pressure on Russia to end its aggression against Ukraine. During her press briefing, Leavitt stated that the intent behind the move was to deter Moscow from pursuing the war in Ukraine. "Look, the president has put tremendous public pressure to bring this war to a close. He's taken actions, as you've seen, sanctions on India and other actions as well. He's made himself very clear that he wants to see this war end, and he has scoffed at the ideas of others that have been raised that we should wait another month before any meeting takes place," she said. VIDEO | Washington DC: Addressing a press briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt refers to sanctions on India while talking about ending Russia-Ukraine war. She says, "The President has put tremendous public pressure to bring this war to a close. He has taken… pic.twitter.com/ShZJMTO9oV — Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 19, 2025 Leavitt further said that the US president aims to bring peace in the world "as quickly as possible." "The president wants to move and he wants to bring this war to an end as quickly as possible. With all of those European leaders leaving the White House, including the NATO Secretary General, they all agree that this is a great first step. And it's a good thing that these two leaders are going to be sitting down together, and the president expects that to happen," she said. "The President met with all of these European leaders at the White House 48 hours after sitting down with President Putin on American soil. In fact, there was so much progress in the readout that was given to these European leaders immediately following his meeting with President Putin that every single one of them got on a plane 48 hours later and flew to the United States of America," Leavitt added. Trump’s much-anticipated meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders concluded at the White House on Monday (Aug 18). Describing the discussions as “very good”, the leaders indicated a possibility of a peace deal between the warring countries, Russia and Ukraine. European leaders, including Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, flew to Washington to attend the discussions backing Zelenskyy. Trump confirms talks between Putin and Zelenskyy Trump said that he has called Putin and has begun setting up a meeting between his Russian counterpart and Zelenskyy. Following this, there would be a trilateral meeting including the US president, Trump said. The location of the talks is yet to be determined. “At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy. After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “Again, this was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff are coordinating with Russia and Ukraine,” he added. Meeting with Putin should be held ‘without any conditions’, says Zelenskyy Zelenskyy said that he wanted to approach talks with Russia without any preconditions, highlighting that setting terms could lead Moscow to do the same, potentially jeopardising the negotiations. “That’s why I believe that we must meet without any conditions,” he told reporters. “We had a truly warm, good and substantial conversation,” Zelenskyy said about his meeting with Trump. (With inputs from agencies)
