Former White House national security adviser John Bolton brushed off President Trump’s recent threat to impose sanctions on Russia over its continued strikes in Ukraine as peace talks are underway.

In an appearance Friday on CNN, Bolton was asked to weigh in on the issue and how it changes the narrative after Trump had seemingly moved closer to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Invoking his latest spat with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office and criticism he’s lavished on the war-torn country and its leader, the former Trump official painted the president’s threat on Russia as “hollow.”

“He did it simply to try and show some kind of balance, given the things he had said about Zelensky and the Ukrainians,” Bolton told host Anderson Cooper on CNN’s “AC360.”

“I think Putin completely understood that that threat was totally hollow,” he added.

Trump signaled on Friday that he was weighing additional sanctions and tariffs on Russia in an attempt to bring Moscow to the negotiation table to end the three-year-long war in Eastern Europe. In his warning, the president claimed Putin’s military was “pounding” Ukraine on the battlefield.

In response, he said large scale banking sanctions and tariffs could be imposed until a ceasefire is reached.

“To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Bolton, who also previously served as U.N. ambassador, questioned the strength of the proposed sanctions and taxes, saying “I don’t understand it.”

“Last year, the only year we have full statistics, were a little bit less than $3 billion, which is trivial compared to the total volume of U.S. trade with the rest of the world,” he said in the interview.

“And in fact, in 2021, in other words, the last full year before Russia’s invasion in 2022, they were about $30 billion,” Bolton continued “So over this period of time since the invasion, U.S. imports from Russia have already shrunk 90 percent.”

He added, “So, the tariff thing is effectively meaningless. Banking sanctions, you know, if there are banking sanctions we haven’t imposed on Russia, I’d like to know why not?”

Trump administration officials also confirmed Wednesday that the White House paused intelligence-sharing with Ukraine as part of a broader review of assistance to Kyiv, which has been frozen.

Asked how Ukraine can function without such support, Bolton called the move “despicable” and said Zelensky will likely have to look to other NATO members for support.

“This is all part of how Trump does business. It’s all personal. I know this is hard to understand that people think there’s some policy behind it, but [there’s] not,” he said, adding that “Trump believes that U.S. relations with other countries are embodied in his personal relations with the foreign heads of state.”

“He thinks Vladimir Putin is his friend. He’s never liked Zelensky, not since the famous perfect phone call in 2019. And this is what you’re getting,” Bolton continued, calling it a “huge mistake” for the U.S.

He also claimed the pause will not make Russia more eager to come to the table, placing the blame on Trump’s policies that he said are about abandoning Ukraine and taking Russia’s side.

Bolton countered, “Why should they negotiate when Trump gives them everything they want?”

Trump’s threat of sanctions comes just days before members of his administration are set to meet with Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia to discuss a path toward ending the war. The same administration officials had met with their Russian counterparts in Riyadh last month.

A minerals deal between the U.S. and Ukraine — which includes an exchange of critical minerals for security guarantees against Russia — is still in limbo, after the testy White House exchange earlier this month. Zelensky and Trump have signaled that an agreement is still possible.

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Suozzi slams Trump over Ukraine, says Putin shouldn’t be awarded for ‘awful things’ Ukrainians have faced

Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) slammed President Trump over the war in Ukraine on Sunday, also saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin shouldn’t be awarded “for all the awful things that have happened to the Ukrainian people.”

“Trump has been wrong in the way he’s handled this, I want to give Brian credit, as co-chair of the Ukrainian caucus, for standing up and saying, ‘You cannot reward a dictator.’ … Putin is the dictator,” Suozzi told CBS News’s Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” in an interview alongside Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.).

“Putin invaded. Zelensky is democratically elected. We cannot reward the guy responsible for murdering, for kidnapping, for raping, for all the awful things that have happened to the Ukrainian people. We all need to stand up for the Ukrainian people,” he added.

Zelensky, Trump and Vice President Vance recently had a tense Oval Office meeting that sent shock waves through Washington and the world. The meeting featured shouting and finger-pointing, with the Ukrainian leader and the president arguing over U.S. support for Ukraine.

Following the meeting, Trump said on his Truth Social platform that the Ukrainian president “is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations.” A minerals deal between the U.S. and Ukraine that was set to be signed was also put off following the meeting.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in a recent interview that Zelensky had done a complete “about-face” regarding the deal.

“I’m really grateful and glad that Zelensky, in the last several days, has done an about-face. He’s effectively apologized for all that. And he said, ‘Oh no, no, we would like that deal after all.’ I think he had a rude awakening,” Johnson said on John Catsimatidis’s radio show “Cats Roundtable.”

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Trump says Putin is currently 'doing what anybody else would do'

On a day when he threatened Moscow with sanctions over its heavy bombardment of Ukrainian positions, US President Donald Trump expressed understanding for Russian President Vladimir Putin's current approach in the Ukraine war.

"I actually think he's doing what anybody else would do," Trump said on Friday when asked whether Putin was taking advantage of the current suspension of US military aid to Kiev.

"Probably anybody in that position would be doing that right now," the US president added.

Trump again emphasized his "good relationship" with Putin and claimed that the Russian president wants "to end the war," adding: "I think he's going to be more generous than he has to be."

Asked why his administration was no longer providing Ukraine with defence funds and what would happen when those funds ran out, Trump replied: "Because I have to know that they want to settle. I don't know that they want to settle. If they don't want to settle, we're out of there because we want them to settle. And I'm doing it to stop death."

US firm blocks Kiev's access to satellite images

Meanwhile, the US technology group Maxar has blocked Ukraine from accessing its satellite images. The US government has decided to temporarily suspend Ukrainian access to the Global Enhanced GEOINT Delivery satellite imaging service, the US company told dpa.

Previously, several users speaking on condition of anonymity had confirmed the access block to the Ukrainian military blog Militarnyi. The block applies to both government and private accounts.

The background to this is the temporary halt by the US of sharing intelligence information with Kiev, according to Militarnyi.

In the wake of a tense meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump at the White House a week ago, the US government not only suspended military aid but also the provision of intelligence for the time being.

Militarnyi said Maxar was probably the leading provider of commercial satellite imagery for users in Ukraine especially for pinpointing Russian troop movements or examining damage to key sites both in Russian-occupied territory and in Russia itself.

Kremlin responds to EU defence plans

In response to the European Union's newly announced rearmament initiative, Russia has signalled plans to bolster its own defence.

"All this militarization is directed primarily against Russia," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.

Moscow views the EU's initiative as a potential threat and will take necessary steps to safeguard its security, he added.

The EU's decision to ramp up military capabilities came during an emergency summit on Thursday.

A key proposal discussed was the ReArm Europe plan, introduced by the European Commission earlier this week, which aims to mobilize nearly €800 billion ($867 billion) to beef up EU defences.

Casualties from Russian shelling in Donetsk region

At least five people have been killed due to Russian shelling in the town of Dobropillya in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk. A further 15 were injured, the governor of the region, Vadym Filashkin, posted on Telegram.

He said that three attacks resulted in damage to four multi-storey residential buildings, and rescue teams were searching for additional victims.

Filashkin urged remaining residents of the area to flee to safer regions. The front line runs approximately 20 kilometres south of the mining town.

Reports: Russia attacks Ukrainian port city of Odessa

Russia appears to be intensifying its airstrikes on Ukraine, with the port city of Odessa coming under fire again, local media reported late on Friday.

The drone attack targeted the city's energy supply and civilian infrastructure, according to reports from Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform and Russian state news agency TASS, citing regional officials.

The attack caused significant damage, including fires at an industrial building and a petrol station. It remains unclear whether there are any casualties.

Moscow targets power and gas in Ukraine

Russia launched a wave of attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure overnight from Thursday to Friday. Ukrainian authorities said early on Friday that missiles and drones struck power and gas facilities across multiple regions.

The Ukrainian air defence reported that Kalibr guided missiles, launched from ships in the Black Sea, had been used.

Zelensky later reported on Telegram that Russia had launched nearly 70 missiles at Ukraine, causing damage in the Odessa, Poltava and Ternopil regions.

Officials said at least five people were injured in the eastern city of Kharkiv. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram that both an infrastructure facility and a nearby residential building were struck.

Terekhov said that rescue workers were searching for more victims under the rubble of the partially collapsed apartment building, adding that six people had been rescued so far.

The western region of Ternopil also saw damage from the attack, with gas supply disruptions reported. However, no fatalities or injuries were reported in the region, military governor Vyacheslav Nehoda said on Telegram.

Ukraine has been defending itself against Russia's full-scale invasion for more than three years.

During this time, Russia has systematically targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure, destroying more than half of the country's electricity generation capacity.

Zelensky: Russia must be forced into peace

Zelensky accused Russia of showing a lack of interest in peace in light of the latest massive aerial attack.

"Today, this Russian attack on our energy system and civilian facilities was as routine for Russia as ever, as mean and cynical as ever, as if there had been no attempts by Ukraine and the world to end this war," Zelensky said in his daily address on Friday evening.

Ukraine, on the other hand, is interested in a swift peace. Zelensky emphasized, "And every day, new Russian strikes and reality itself prove that Russia must be forced into peace."

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