The Kremlin said on Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump's recent statements, including a threat of sanctions on buyers of Russian exports, are serious and require analysis.

Pentagon officials said details were still being worked out, and experts doubted Mr. Trump’s threat of huge tariffs for Russian trading partners.

President Trump has effectively handed Vladimir Putin an extraordinary green light: 50 days to finish off his brutal summer offensive in Ukraine before facing any consequences.

Angela Stent, senior fellow at Brookings Institution, says Russian President Vladimir Putin counted on Chinese President Xi Jinping's support when he invaded Ukraine – and continues to count on Beijing's economic support and diplomatic support on a global stage.

“Putin will not negotiate as a loser,” one of his longtime associates tells TIME by phone from Moscow. “He knows that winners don’t get punished, and if he wins, all of this” — the sanctions, the tariffs — “will go away.”

Trump makes major statement on Russia after announcing U.S. sending missiles to help Ukraine. Here's what to know and what he said about Putin

The contradictory stories come as Trump, finally, announces new sanctions to counter Russia and more military aid to Ukraine.

Donald Trump’s remarks on Ukraine on Monday were far from the biggest announcement the US president could have made.