US will abandon Ukraine ceasefire talks if no progress soon — Trump

 

United States President, Donald Trump, has warned that the country will pull out of efforts to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine if the negotiations do not show signs of progress in the coming days.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump said the US would “take a pass” on further involvement in peace talks if either Moscow or Kyiv made it difficult to reach a deal. 

“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.”

Although Trump declined to give a specific timeline, he emphasised he wanted an agreement to be reached “quickly”. 

According to the BBC, his comments came shortly after Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a stern warning that Washington would step back from the talks unless clear progress was made within days. 

“We’re not going to continue with this endeavour for weeks and months on end,” Rubio said. “The US had other priorities to focus on.”

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Meanwhile, Russian strikes across north-eastern Ukraine on Friday left two people dead and over 100 injured in Kharkiv and Sumy. 

The latest attacks come amid a slow but steady advance by Russian forces in the east, with President Vladimir Putin continuing to impose conditions for any potential ceasefire.

The Trump administration, which initially expressed confidence that it could broker a deal swiftly, has yet to achieve a breakthrough. Blame for the deadlock has been directed at both sides, according to US officials.

Speaking in Paris after a meeting with European leaders, Rubio stressed the urgency of the situation. “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.” The secretary admitted reaching a peace deal remained a formidable challenge.

Trump had repeatedly stated during his campaign and after re-entering office that he would end the war within 24 hours of becoming president.

Asked to respond to Trump’s expectations on a ceasefire, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the negotiations as “quite difficult”. 

He said, “The Russian side is striving to reach a peace settlement in this conflict, to ensure its own interests, and is open to dialogue.”