Donald Trump has stated that the US will “take a pass” on facilitating further Russia-Ukraine talks if Moscow or Kyiv make it “very difficult” to reach a peace deal.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump expressed that he was not expecting a truce to occur within a specific timeframe but hoped it could be achieved “quickly.”
His remarks followed warnings from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who stated that the US would abandon the talks unless clear signs of progress were seen within days. “We’re not going to continue with this endeavour for weeks and months on end,” Rubio added, emphasizing that the US had “other priorities to focus on.”
This comes as Russian strikes on Ukraine continue, with two people reported dead and over 100 injured in the northeastern cities of Kharkiv and Sumy on Friday. Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Russian troops advancing slowly in eastern Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin has outlined several conditions for any potential ceasefire.
Trump, when asked about a potential deal between Russia and Ukraine, said, “We’re talking about here people dying. We’re going to get it stopped, ideally. Now if, for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say, ‘You’re foolish, you’re fools, you’re horrible people,’ and we’re going to just take a pass.”
Despite early confidence in securing a deal quickly, attempts to reach a full ceasefire have not yet materialized, with Washington placing blame on both sides.
After a meeting with European leaders in Paris on Thursday, Rubio told reporters on Friday, “We need to determine very quickly now – and I’m talking about a matter of days – whether or not this is doable.” He added, “If it’s not going to happen, then we’re just going to move on.”
Trump had previously stated that, if re-elected, he would end the fighting within the first 24 hours of his presidency.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, when asked about Trump’s call for an answer on a ceasefire, acknowledged that negotiations were challenging, stating, “The Russian side is striving to reach a peace settlement in this conflict, to ensure its own interests, and is open to dialogue.”
During a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Friday, US Vice-President JD Vance expressed optimism about ending the war in Ukraine. “I want to update the prime minister on some of the negotiations between Russia, Ukraine, and also some of the things that have happened even in the past 24 hours,” Vance said, adding, “We do feel optimistic that we can hopefully bring this war to a close.”
Vance’s comments followed news of Ukraine and the US taking steps towards striking a minerals deal, which had previously been derailed after a public altercation between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in February.
On Thursday, the two countries signed a memorandum of intent to establish an investment fund for Ukraine’s reconstruction as part of an economic partnership agreement. The deal aims to be finalized by April 26, though the details remain unclear. Previous reports suggested that the agreement could extend beyond minerals to include control of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, oil, and gas.
Ukraine’s negotiators have tried to resist Trump’s demands for a joint investment fund that would repay the US for prior military aid, but they have seemingly accepted his argument that it would help the country recover after the war ends.
The memorandum stated that “the American people desire to invest alongside the Ukrainian people in a free, sovereign, and secure Ukraine.”
Zelensky had hoped to use the deal to secure a US security guarantee in the event of a ceasefire, arguing that “a ceasefire without security guarantees is dangerous for Ukraine.”
The US has so far resisted providing Kyiv with security guarantees, believing that the presence of US businesses could deter further Russian aggression, though this strategy was unsuccessful when Russia invaded in 2022.
Ukraine’s Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced the signing of the memorandum on social media, sharing photos of her and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signing the document in an online call. Svyrydenko expressed hope that the deal would be beneficial for both countries, while Bessent noted that the details were still being worked out but that the deal was “substantially what we’d agreed on previously.”
Trump hinted at the deal during a press conference with Meloni, stating, “We have a minerals deal which I guess is going to be signed on (next) Thursday… and I assume they’re going to live up to the deal. So we’ll see. But we have a deal on that.”
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, the chair of Ukraine’s parliamentary committee on EU Integration, told the BBC that the Ukrainian parliament would have “the last word” on the deal, expressing hope that the agreement would serve the country’s interests.
On Thursday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha met Rubio and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff in Paris to discuss pathways to peace, including a full ceasefire, multinational peacekeeping contingent, and security guarantees for Ukraine.
