United States President Donald Trump on Saturday expressed his doubts over Russia's stand on ending the Ukraine war. His sceptical remark came a day after he had said Ukraine and Russia were very "close to a peace deal".
"There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days," Trump said on social media.
Flying back from the Pope’s funeral, Trump writes he’s starting to think Putin doesn’t want to end the war & is just trying to fool him
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) April 26, 2025
“Maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along & has to be dealt with differently, through Banking or Secondary Sanctions?” pic.twitter.com/92gHpKnD08
He also hinted at further sanctions against Russia. "It makes me think that maybe he (Putin) doesn't want to stop the war, he's just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through Banking or Secondary Sanctions? Too many people are dying!!!" Trump wrote.
The US president's latest comments were contrary to his positive assessment that the two sides were close to making a deal to end the war. Trump's positive remarks came after US envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin in Moscow on Friday.
Trump met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Vatican while attending Pope Francis' funeral. It was their first face-to-face encounter after the Oval Office showdown in Washington in February.
In an effort to revive faltering attempts to end Russia's war in Ukraine, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskiy — in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis — met one-on-one at the Vatican basilica https://t.co/rb55Ubh4Vb pic.twitter.com/cIYRViyCHy
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 26, 2025
With Russia continuing its attacks on Kyiv despite the US’s warning, Trump on Thursday sternly urged the Russian leader to "STOP!"
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy has called the meeting with Trump as a "good" one. "We discussed a lot one-on-one. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting the lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire," he said.
Later, the White House also called the discussions with Zelenskyy as "productive".
Trump has been pressing both leaders to engage in discussions and negotiate a peace deal to end the war. Though Zelenskyy agreed to the US's 30-day halt to hostilities, Russia was not very keen on it and continued with the strikes.
The Saturday meeting also came shortly after Trump had issued his statement about the need for Ukraine to give up territory to Russia to bring the war to a close. "Crimea will stay with Russia," he had said.
