Senior Trump administration officials have discussed in recent days the likelihood that the US will be unable to secure a Ukraine peace deal in the next few months and are drawing up new plans to pressure both Kyiv and Moscow, according to two US officials familiar with the matter, Report informs via Reuters.
At the start of his administration, President Donald Trump and his top advisers set out to reach a full ceasefire by April or May. They hoped to broker a lasting peace deal in the following months.
But neither agreement appears imminent, the officials said, raising the possibility that the three-year-old war will drag on and that Ukraine will need more Western support for its military operations.
Such an outcome would be anathema to Trump, a self-styled dealmaker who has repeatedly promised a quick end to a conflict that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and risks pulling NATO into a direct conflict with nuclear-armed Russia.
Top US officials have for weeks complained privately about Kyiv's handling of the negotiations and what they view as resistance to a minerals deal with Washington and moving forward with peace talks. But in recent days, the sources said, officials are increasingly frustrated with Moscow.
In a series of meetings and calls over the weekend, officials inside the White House and State Department acknowledged that Russian President Vladimir Putin is actively resisting Washington’s attempts to strike a lasting peace accord and discussed what, if any, economic or diplomatic punishments could push Russia closer to a deal, the sources said.
The growing anger toward Moscow, including from the president himself, marks a shift in the administration's internal deliberations about Moscow's willingness to negotiate.
Trump has for weeks said he trusts the Russian president and that he believes the leader is committed to peace, but the White House has grown wary of Putin's intentions in recent days, the sources said, though Trump continues to signal publicly his belief that Putin wants to end the war.
It is not clear what specific plans the administration may have to pressure Moscow, but one senior US official said the White House is continuing to look at additional tariff and sanctions measures it can levy on the country.