The US President Donald Trump, according to his aides, has recently been "genuinely surprised and secretly irritated" that Russian leader Vladimir Putin is not showing more flexibility in resolving the Russian-Ukrainian war.
This is reported by the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
After the massive Russian strike on Kyiv on the night of April 24, Trump wrote on his social network Truth Social: “Vladimir, stop!” He called on Putin to conclude a peace treaty, which, according to the WSJ, became a “rare” example of the US president criticizing Putin.
Trump has focused his anger on Ukraine, not Russia, because Kyiv is easier to influence, says an expert at the Council on Foreign Relations Thomas Graham. Trump doesn’t have many levers to use against Moscow. After Russia’s invasion in 2022, the United States and its allies imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia, leaving few levers of pressure.
After his inauguration in January 2025, Trump suggested he might impose sanctions on Russia’s energy sector if Putin resisted a peace deal. But on April 24, he dropped the idea, saying he thought Russia would “do the West a favour” by not taking over the rest of Ukraine.
Asked what concessions Putin offered in the talks, Trump said:
"Ending the war, not taking over the entire country is a pretty big concession."
Trump’s failure to quickly halt the fighting in Ukraine “is leaving him increasingly frustrated and constrained,” the newspaper wrote.
The question now is whether he is willing to pressure Moscow to make a deal, as he did with Ukraine, or whether he will make even greater concessions.
Ceasefire negotiations
Washington is negotiating with Russia and Ukraine to end the war, but a true ceasefire is still in sight. Kyiv has already agreed to halt hostilities in the Black Sea and not attack Russian energy facilities during a 30-day ceasefire. Moscow, in return, has only promised not to attack energy facilities and said it would implement the Black Sea agreements only after Western sanctions are lifted.
According to Bloomberg, the US side has presented its allies with a proposal for a settlement in Ukraine, which includes conditions for a cessation of hostilities and easing of sanctions against Russia. This proposal would effectively freeze the war, and the Ukrainian territories currently occupied by Russia would remain under Moscowʼs control, the publicationʼs sources said.
The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after meeting with allies in Paris that the US could end its mediation efforts in Ukraine within days if it does not see clear signs of a peace deal. Trump confirmed his words the same day.
Washington was expected to propose recognizing illegally annexed Crimea as part of the Russian Federation and freezing the front line as part of a peace agreement as early as April 23, as reported by The Washington Post. Zelensky stressed that Ukraine had not received any official proposals to exchange or give up territories, and Kyiv does not legally recognize Russiaʼs annexation of Crimea.
Trump criticized Zelensky for his statement that Ukraine does not legally recognize Crimea as Russian. The American president is convinced that this statement is "very damaging to peace negotiations with Russia" and that Crimea "was lost during the presidency of Barack Obama".
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