President Trump said on Saturday that he doubts Russia’s Vladimir Putin wants to end the war in Ukraine, raising new doubts about the possibility of a quick peace deal. Only a day before, Trump claimed Ukraine and Russia were “very close to a deal.”
“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities, and towns over the last few days,” Trump said in a social media post as he flew back to the United States from attending Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican, where he briefly met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Trump also hinted at more sanctions against Russia.
“It makes me wonder if he does not want to end the war, but is just dragging me along and needs to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?'” “Too many people are dying!” Trump wrote.
Trump’s new reservations come as the president and his top advisers step up their efforts to reach an agreement to end the war that began in February 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine.
The remarks also contrasted sharply with Trump’s optimistic assessment that the two sides were “very close to a deal” after his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Putin in Moscow on Friday.
The Trump-Zelensky conversation on the sidelines of the pope’s funeral was the two leaders’ first face-to-face encounter since their heated Oval Office meeting in late February. Following the confrontation, the White House temporarily suspended U.S. military assistance and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
Days after ordering the pause, Trump announced that he was “strongly considering” imposing new sanctions and tariffs on Russia in order to pressure Putin to engage in serious negotiations. Trump has not followed through on his threat, and some of his staunch Republican allies are now pressuring him to do so. When Trump announced new global tariffs earlier this month, Russia was one of the major economies he did not target.
On Friday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) urged Trump to “put the toughest of sanctions on Putin,” arguing that there is “clear evidence that he is playing America as a patsy.”
It is Trump’s second public rebuke of Putin in as many days, despite the fact that the American president rarely criticizes and frequently praises him.
In a social media post on Thursday, Trump urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to “STOP!” following a deadly barrage of attacks on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.
Zelensky described his brief conversation with Trump as a “good meeting” on social media following the funeral.
“We talked a lot one-on-one. We are hoping for results on everything we have covered. Protecting the lives of our citizens. A complete and unconditional ceasefire. “Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out,” wrote the Ukrainian leader, who also met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer Saturday. “Very symbolic meeting with the potential to become historic if we achieve joint goals. “Thank you.”
The White House described the discussion as “very productive.” The meeting lasted about 15 minutes inside St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, where Francis frequently preached about the need for a peaceful end to the war, just before Trump and Zelensky took their seats at the outdoor funeral.
The Vatican had long offered to facilitate peace talks. That Trump and Zelensky spoke privately, face to face and hunched over on chairs on the marbled floors of the pope’s home, on the day of his funeral, may have been a fitting tribute to his wishes.
Trump said on social media after arriving in Italy late Friday that Russia and Ukraine should meet for “very high level talks” to end the war.
Neither Putin nor Zelensky have responded to Trump’s calls for direct talks.
Trump has pressed both sides to quickly reach an agreement to end the war, but while Zelensky agreed to an American plan for a 30-day cease-fire, Russia has not signed on and has continued to strike targets in Ukraine.
Putin did not attend Francis’s funeral. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant against him, accusing him of war crimes related to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, in a statement issued Friday night, Zelensky stated that “very significant meetings may take place” in the coming days and reiterated his call for an unconditional ceasefire.
“Real pressure on Russia is needed so that they accept either the American proposal to cease fire and move towards peace, or our proposal — whichever one can truly work and ensure a reliable, immediate, and unconditional ceasefire, and then — a dignified peace and security guarantees,” he told reporters.
Diplomacy must succeed. And we are doing everything we can to make diplomacy truly meaningful and, ultimately, effective.
The meeting on Saturday also came shortly after Trump made his most definitive statement yet about the need for Ukraine to cede territory to Russia in order to end the war. In a Friday Time magazine interview, he stated that “Crimea will stay with Russia.”
Russia seized a strategic peninsula along the Black Sea in southern Ukraine in 2014, years before the full-scale invasion began in 2022. Most countries, including the United States, have publicly condemned the annexation as a violation of international law. Zelensky wants to reclaim Crimea and other Ukrainian territory seized by Russia, but Trump says that is unrealistic.
Russia has also seized Ukrainian territory in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions since its invasion in February 2022.
During the interview at the White House on Tuesday, Trump said of Crimea, “Everybody understands that it is been with [Russia] for a long time.”
