An intelligence expert has warned that Vladimir Putin could soon 'invade another country' despite Donald Trump's warning to the Russian president.
Speaking in Scotland earlier this week after a meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump confirmed that he would give Russia '10 or 12 days' to finalise a deal with Ukraine, more than three years on from the initial invasion.
Despite some heated chats with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy since his return to the Oval Office, it seems as if Trump is now willing to crack down on Putin and Russia as he and most of the world aim to bring an end to the war.
The POTUS said: "We thought we had it settled numerous times, and then President Putin goes out and starts launching rockets into some city like Kyiv and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever.
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"You have bodies lying all over the street, and I say that’s not the way to do it. So we’ll see what happens with that."
After previously setting a 50-day deadline two weeks ago, which was due to expire on 2 September, the 79-year-old made it clear that Russia must confirm a truce with Ukraine in the next two weeks or risk facing serious economic sanctions from the US.
However, US intelligence expert Rebekah Koffler has suggested that the signs are pointing towards more Russian aggression in the next few years.
Writing in The Telegraph, she said: "As a military intelligence analyst specialising in Putin’s thinking and Russian military strategy, I agree with Rutte’s assessment about Russia’s readiness for another offensive military campaign in just a few years.
"I’m less convinced that a NATO country is likely to be the Kremlin’s next target, unless the alliance directly intervenes in Ukraine by deploying troops onto the battlefield.
"Nevertheless, what NATO does or doesn’t do in the next few years could be highly significant in determining whether Putin decides to attack another post-Soviet state, such as Moldova."
Koffler suggests that while Russia's invasion of Ukraine has developed into the exact sort of situation that they wanted to avoid, it hasn't changed the Kremlin's approach to conflict.
It seems as if those in Moscow could be willing to wait until an outbreak of any future war before striking again, but given the impending threat of World War Three, another invasion could well be closer than most people would like to imagine.
Trump had previously hoped to dissuade Putin over the phone but has quickly lost patience with the Russian leader in recent months, suggesting that he was disappointed but 'not done' with him during a bombshell recent interview.
Topics: Russia, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, World News, Politics
James Moorhouse