Trump says US will soon ‘take a pass’ if Russia or Ukraine baulk on deal

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump signalled he could walk way from efforts to end the war in Ukraine if a deal cannot be found soon, as Russia said a one-month pause on targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure had ended. 

“If, for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say, you’re foolish,” Mr Trump told reporters on April 18 in the Oval Office. “You’re fools, you’re horrible people, and we’re going to just take a pass. But hopefully we won’t have to do that.”

Mr Trump said he did not have a “specific number of days” in mind by which he wanted to see an agreement before walking away, but needed to see quick progress.

“I know when people are playing us, and I know when they’re not,” Mr Trump said. “And I have to see an enthusiasm to want to end it. And I think I see that enthusiasm. I think I see it from both sides.”

His comments followed a meeting of US officials – including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US special envoy Steve Witkoff – with representatives from France, Germany and Britain in Paris on April 17, where the US indicated that its aim was to secure a full ceasefire in Ukraine within weeks, according to people familiar.

Following the meeting, Mr Rubio said the US

needed to see in “a matter of days”

whether a deal was “doable in the short term”.

“Because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on,” Mr Rubio told reporters at Le Bourget airport outside of Paris on the morning of April 18, according to a transcript provided by the State Department.

Mr Rubio also said the European nations could help “move the ball” to get a resolution, and that their ideas had been “very helpful and constructive”.

“We had a good meeting yesterday,” he added. “But this isn’t going to go on forever.” The war in Ukraine, now well into its fourth year, “has no military solution to it”, Mr Rubio said. “Neither side has some strategic capability to end this war quickly.”

Mr Trump, who predicted on the campaign trail that he could quickly secure a ceasefire, hits the 100-day mark of his second stint in the White House on April 30. 

Mr Trump “has dedicated a lot of time and energy to this, and there are a lot of things going on in the world right now that we need to be focused on”, Mr Rubio told reporters. “There are a lot of other really important things going on that deserve just as much if not more attention.” 

April 17’s talks in Paris also included a meeting between Mr Witkoff and French President Emmanuel Macron and were attended by Ukrainian officials.

US officials indicated they expected to make significant progress soon, and the participants agreed to work towards that, said the people familiar. National security advisers and negotiators from Germany, France, the US and Britain plan to gather again in London next week to follow up on their discussions. 

The meetings came almost a week after Mr Witkoff travelled to St Petersburg, where he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin for almost five hours. He described the conversation as “compelling”, saying they discussed steps that could end the war and perhaps lead to business opportunities for Russia as well. 

European officials have attempted to influence the outcome of peace efforts kicked off by the Trump administration, especially after being sidelined during recent bilateral talks between Russia and the US. 

Mr Trump has expressed frustration at the pace of negotiations with Russia, which has so far declined to accept his proposal for a truce in Ukraine as a starting point for broader peace talks. But the US leader has also at times

blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky

for the war that began with Russia’s invasion in 2022.  

“President Trump has been clear he wants this conflict brought to a swift, peaceful resolution,” White House National Security Council spokesman James Hewitt said in a statement.

On April 18, the Kremlin said an order to pause strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure for 30 days had expired, with no updated instructions in place. 

“The month has indeed expired,” Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Interfax news agency. “At the present time, there have been no other instructions from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.”

Mr Putin agreed to limit attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for 30 days during a March 18 phone call with Mr Trump, an outcome that fell well short of the White House’s aim for a total halt to the fighting over that same timeframe. 

Kyiv and Moscow each accused the other of breaking the accord, though the month passed without a strike on any of Russia’s major refineries, and many of the alleged violations were related to transformers and power lines.

As at of early April, Russia’s refinery runs were on track to reach a four-month high thanks to an absence of drone attacks.

Kremlin forces have stepped up strikes on other targets in recent weeks, including deadly missile attacks on civilians in Kryvih Rih, Mr Zelensky’s home town, and Sumy in Ukraine’s north-east. 

Separately, Mr Trump told reporters on April 17 that a deal on critical minerals that he has demanded with Ukraine is expected to be signed on April 24. 

His comments suggests both sides have agreed to the contours of an accord governing postwar plans to exploit Ukraine’s mineral deposits and rebuild its infrastructure. 

The deal would grant the US first claim on profits transferred into a special reconstruction investment fund to be controlled by Washington. In negotiations, Kyiv has pressed for better terms and refused to recognise past US assistance as debt. BLOOMBERG