Trump Will Hands Off Russian-Ukraine War Mediation If No Progress

JAKARTA The United States will abandon efforts to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace agreement unless there are clear signs of progress in the near future.

"We want to finish it quickly," US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House.

"Now if for a reason one of the two sides complicates it, we'll say, 'you guys are stupid, you're bad guys, and we're going to be soft. But hopefully we don't need to do that," Trump stressed.

Trump's statement follows comments by US Secretary of State Marco who said the two sides only had a few days to show progress or Washington would give up.

"We will not continue this business for weeks and months. So, we need to determine immediately now, and I am talking about a matter of days, whether this can be done in the next few weeks," Rubio said in Paris after meeting with European and Ukrainian leaders.

"If it is not possible, if we are so far away that this will not happen, then I think the president may already be at a point where he will say, 'it's fine, we're done'," continued the US Foreign Minister.

Trump, when asked, refused to set a specific time limit for how long he was willing to wait.

"Marco really said we wanted to see it end," Trump said.

When asked if Russian President Vladimir Putin was delaying, Trump replied: "I hope not."

Over the past few weeks, Trump officials have personally acknowledged that the chances of achieving a fast peace deal in Ukraine are increasingly difficult to reach.

Rubio's statement, said three European diplomats, reflects the growing frustration at the White House over Russia's reluctance to end the war.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said some progress in the peaceful settlement had been achieved but contact with Washington was difficult.

He said Russia was trying hard to resolve the conflict while ensuring its own interests. Moscow remains open to dialogue with the United States.

US officials were also frustrated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyyyy's statement this week, Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, "spreading the Russian narrative," and saying it did not help the process, a US official said.