Trump pressuring Ukraine to end war, avoiding increasing pressure on russia – media

The administration of US President Donald Trump is putting pressure on Ukraine to end the war, but is not talking about increasing pressure on russia.

The authors of the Axios portal reported this, referring to American and European officials familiar with the negotiations.

President Donald Trump, who previously promised to reach a peace agreement within 24 hours of taking office, is now disappointed with the delay in the negotiations and is ready to abandon the US's role as mediator. In a private conversation, he expressed his disappointment that the negotiations are not leading to anything.

According to an informed American official, Trump will focus on other areas of foreign policy if an agreement is not reached in the near future.

Trump himself has not yet set a deadline and has not said whether he will take any further steps, except for withdrawing from the negotiations.

“We need to figure out ... within a matter of days, whether this is doable in the short term.  If it's not, then I think we're just going to move on,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said of the war’s end.

“Rubio was not specific about what such a step would look like but only stressed that the U.S. wants fast progress,” one European diplomat told Axios.

Two other European diplomats confirmed: “Rubio said Trump was losing his patience and might withdraw from the process if a deal wasn't reached soon.”

The three European diplomats believe Rubio’s comments were aimed primarily at Ukraine. A source close to the Ukrainian government also said the comments were intended to pressure Kyiv. It also expressed concern that Trump’s withdrawal from the talks could lead to a suspension of US military aid to Ukraine.

European diplomats also noted that Rubio did not talk about increasing pressure on russia during the Paris meetings.

“The impression was that Rubio and Witkoff are under a lot of pressure from Trump and they are channeling it to the other players,” one European diplomat commented.

“Ukraine swiftly agreed to Trump's plans for a 30-day ceasefire, but Russia has slow-walked that proposal and argued they are winning on the battlefield and thus have a number of conditions for any peace agreement.

As a result, it's unlikely the Kremlin would have particular concerns about Trump giving up on diplomacy,” the authors of the Axios portal said.