The Kremlin said U.S. President Donald Trump signaled to Ukraine that it should continue the war after he said he would send more weapons to Kyiv and threatened Russia with secondary sanctions unless it makes peace.

The change in Trump’s approach may also mean that the $US8 billion (£6 billion) of frozen Russian assets in the US (and US$223 billion in Europe) could be released to aid Ukraine, which would provide a ready means to pay for the US arms transfers.

Trump said the United States would put secondary tariffs on countries that do business with Russia if a peace deal is not reached in 50 days.