US President Donald Trump said on Monday he was reducing the 50-day deadline he earlier set for Russia to end the ongoing war in Ukraine, highlighting his growing frustration with the failure to achieve a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow. Trump said the deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to peace was reduced to "10 or 12 days."
Earlier, this month, Trump threatened Putin with economic punishment in the form of tariffs if the peace deal was not reached within 50 days. Speaking alongside US Secretary General Mark Rutte in Washington, Trump had also announced a plan to deliver more weapons to Ukraine.
"I'm disappointed in President [Vladimir] Putin. I'm going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number because I think I already know the answer what's going to happen," Trump said on Monday alongside UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland. "I've spoken to President Putin a lot, I've gotten along with him very well," Trump said, stressing that Putin "goes out and starts launching rockets into some city, like Kyiv, and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever, you have bodies lying all over the street."
Kremlin was quick to comment to Trump’s new deadline for ending the war, with Deputy head of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev accusing Trump of playing "the ultimatum game". In a post on X, Medvedev said: “Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine but with own country,” implying to a possible war between Russia and the United States. Medvedev reminded Trump that Russia is not Israel or Iran, “so it should not be given ultimatums.”
Ending the war in Ukraine was one of Donald Trump’s election campaign pledges. Trump seems to be increasingly frustrated over Russia’s refusal to agree to US-proposed peace deal to end the war that is in its fourth year. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke to Trump on Monday to extend his gratitude for the US president's decision to send much-needed Patriot air defence systems to Ukraine. "We agreed to talk more often and coordinate our steps in the future,” Zelenskiy said on Telegram app.
