President Trump said Friday he needs to hear “very shortly” from Russia and Ukraine about whether they are ready to broker a peace deal or else the U.S. will “take a pass.”
Mr. Trump addressed his efforts to end the three-year-old war after his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, suggested the U.S. would have to move on from its attempts to broker peace if they don’t see progress within a few days.
“No specific number of days, but quickly, we want to get it done,” Mr. Trump said in the Oval Office. “We want to save these lives.”
Mr. Trump pledged on the campaign trail to quickly end the war, which began when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Thousands of soldiers are being killed on both sides and Ukrainian civilians are being bombarded by Mr. Putin’s forces.
“If for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say, “You’re fools, you’re foolish, you’re horrible people’ and we’re just going to take a pass,” Mr. Trump said. “Hopefully, we won’t have to do that.”
Mr. Trump says the war would have never started if he had been president in 2022.
He is trying to get Kyiv to repay the U.S. for its billions of dollars in support by making a deal that would give Americans access to precious minerals in Ukraine.
Mr. Trump said the American presence would serve as a deterrent to Mr. Putin.
However, the deal stalled after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he wanted to see more security guarantees against Mr. Putin.
Mr. Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance scolded Mr. Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in February, saying he wasn’t negotiating effectively and hadn’t shown enough gratitude for U.S. support.
Mr. Trump said he “knows when people are playing us,” and “I have to see an enthusiasm to want to end it.”
“I think I see it from both sides, but you’re gonna know soon,” Mr. Trump said. “Nobody’s playing me, I’m trying to help.”
