(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said Sunday he wants a deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war in “two weeks or less,” but later said a little more time might be acceptable.
Trump’s deadline comes a day after he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Vatican City while they were in Rome for Pope Francis’ funeral.
“I think the meeting went well, we’ll see what happens over the next few days. We’ll probably learn a lot,” Trump told reporters on the tarmac at Morristown Municipal Airport in New Jersey before returning to Washington.
Trump said he was “very disappointed” that Russia continued to carry out missile and drone strikes in Ukraine days after he had implored Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the attacks while negotiations continued.
When asked what he and Zelenskyy talked about, Trump said Zelenskyy emphasized their need for more weapons.
“He told me that he needs more weapons and we’re going to see what happens — I want to see what, with respect to Russia — with Russia I’ve been surprised and disappointed when they did the bombing,” Trump said.
When asked what he wants from Putin, Trump replied, “I want him to stop shooting, sit down and sign a deal. We have the confines of a deal I believe and I want him to sign it and be done with it and just go back to life.”
Trump also said that Ukraine reclaiming its territory in Crimea that Russia occupied in 2014 would be complicated while blaming former President Barack Obama for allowing Russia to take the region. Asked whether he thought Ukraine would give up Crimea, Trump said “I think so.”
Earlier Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Russia and Ukraine are closer to a deal after Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy, but a deal is still not there.
He said the U.S. will now need to weigh if it’s time for the U.S. to step in to mediate talks.
“Well, I think they’re closer in general than they’ve been any time in the last three years, but it’s still not there,” Rubio told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“We cannot continue, as I said, to dedicate time and resources to this effort if it’s not going to come to fruition. So the last week has really been about figuring out how close are these sides really and are they close enough that this merits a continued investment of our time as a mediator in this regard.”
Trump and Zelenskyy met in Vatican City on Saturday while both were in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis. White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said the two had a “very productive session.” Zelenskyy described the meeting as “good” in a post on X and said, “Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results.”
After their meeting, Trump blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin over Moscow’s continued bombardments of Ukrainian cities, which continued overnight into Sunday morning with more drone attacks on six Ukrainian regions. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces downed eight Ukrainian drones overnight into Sunday morning.
Rubio was asked why the U.S. trusts that Putin won’t invade Ukraine again or another European country as he has never acknowledged Ukraine’s right to exist.
“Well, I don’t think peace deals are built on trust. I think peace deals have to be built on verification. Have to be built on facts, have to be built on action, have to be built on realities,” Rubio said. “So this is not an issue of, well, of trust. It’s an issue of building in these sorts of things, verification, security, guarantees, things that have been discussed in the past,” Rubio said.
Rubio said the U.S. has made “real progess, but those last couple steps of this journey were always going to be the hardest ones, and it needs to happen soon.”
Rubio wouldn’t elaborate on a timeline of a deal but instead stressed this is a “critical week” for the U.S.
“This week is going to be a really important week in which we have to make a determination about whether this is an endeavor that we want to continue to be involved in, or if it’s time to sort of focus on some other issues that are equally, if not more important, in some cases, but we want to see it happen, there are reasons to be optimistic, but there are reasons to be realistic, of course, as well,” he said. “We’re close, but we’re not close enough.”
Asked if he supported negotiations, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told CNN’s “State of the Union that he fears Trump will cave in to Putin and “sell out” Zelenskyy.
“Well, look, my great fear, Dana, is that Trump will just cave in to Putin,” Schumer told CNN’s Dana Bash. “That’s been the overall indications all along. And, of course, the bottom line is very simple, that if we cave to Putin, if Trump caves in to Putin, it’s three — it’s bad in three very bad ways:” abandoning Ukraine would be a “moral tragedy, he said, and would “tear asunder” alliances with European allies.
“But, third, and maybe worst of all, it’s a sign that the United States is weak. It sends a signal to every dictator in China, in North Korea, in Iran that, if you stand up and bully Trump, you’re going to get your way,” he said.
National Security Adviser Mike Waltz told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that more sanctions against Russia could be coming as the U.S. tries to force it to make a deal.
“[Trump] talked about potential action on banking, potential action on the oil and gas sector. But he’s determined to use both carrots and sticks to get both sides to the table,” he said.
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