US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, in Washington, DC, 18 April 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE / WILL OLIVER / POOL
US President Donald Trump has expressed his frustration at the lack of progress being made to end the war in Ukraine and has indicated he will discontinue his efforts to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine within days unless he sees clear signs that a deal is achievable, Reuters reported on Saturday.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said, “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. But hopefully we won’t have to do that”.
Trump’s warning followed similar comments made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio after he met with representatives of the EU and Ukraine in Paris on Friday. Rubio said that while the president was still interested in coming to an agreement, he had many other priorities and was ready to move on.
Axios, citing an unnamed US official, said Trump first voiced exasperation over negotiations on Ukraine a few days ago. Having repeatedly promised to end the war within 24 hours of entering office, Trump has struggled to make any significant progress towards that goal since his return to the White House three weeks ago.
Trump unilaterally decided to begin direct high-level talks with Russia in February, cutting both Ukraine and his NATO partners out of the negotiation process and making multiple concessions to Moscow before the talks had even begun. Since then, Trump has expressed his disappointment at the lack of progress to Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and several other key advisers, Axios said.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg said on Friday that the Trump administration was ready to recognise Crimea as part of Russia if that would help bring a peace agreement closer, though sources told Bloomberg that no final decision had been made on the issue. Recognising the annexation of Crimea would be contrary to international law and treaties prohibiting the forcible seizure of foreign territory, Bloomberg noted.
