President Trump gave Vladimir Putin a hard deadline to prove that he is genuinely interested in ending the war with Ukraine as the Kremlin announced on Thursday that the Russian president has no intention of meeting with his American counterpart. Trump has repeatedly urged Putin to initiative talks with Ukraine and announce a ceasefire to end the war.
“We’re going to find out whether or not he’s tapping us along or not, and if he is, we’ll respond a little bit differently, but it will take about a week and a half to two weeks,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Wednesday as he showed his frustration with Russia.
Trump’s Final Warning
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When asked if he thought Putin was interested in ending the war, Trump replied, “I can’t tell you that, but I’ll let you know in about two weeks.” Trump — who had previously warned that the Russian president was “playing with fire” by avoiding ceasefire negotiations — also said that he was “very disappointed” by Moscow’s latest wave of missile and drone strikes.
“When I see rockets being shot into cities, that’s no good. We aren’t going to allow it,” he said.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Putin has no intention of speaking with Trump, even as Russian forces advanced further, seizing three additional villages in eastern Ukraine on Thursday.
Trump has become noticeably more irritated with Putin in recent days. He reportedly had a two-hour conversation with the Russian leader last week, believing they had reached a deal to kick off ceasefire talks right away.
However, shortly after their discussion, Moscow unleashed its worst ever military assault on Ukraine to date. In response, Trump accused Putin of having “gone absolutely CRAZY” and warned that he was “playing with fire” by avoiding peace negotiations.
Putin’s Plans Difficult to Understand
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Last week, Putin said that he had agreed to work with Kyiv on creating a memorandum aimed at reaching a peace agreement, including setting a timeline for a ceasefire. Russia has said it is in the process of preparing its own version of the memorandum, though officials admit they’re unsure how long the drafting will take.
On the other hand, Ukraine slammed the delay from Russia, suggesting the holdup likely means the document includes unreasonable or excessive demands.
“The Russians’ fear of sending their ‘memorandum’ to Ukraine suggests that it is likely filled with unrealistic ultimatums, and they are afraid of revealing that they are stalling the peace process,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesman, Heorhii Tykhyi, wrote on X on Thursday.
