US President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters in New Jersey on Sunday, the 27th of April, called on Russia to stop its attacks in Ukraine, while his Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated that the US could abandon peace efforts if it sees no progress, adding that this week will be very important, according to Reuters and The Kyiv Independent.
“I want him to stop shooting, sit down [at the negotiating table] and sign the deal,” Trump told reporters when asked what he expected from Putin. “I believe we have confines of a deal and I want him to sign it and be done with it,” he added, signalling growing impatience.
Trump said he was disappointed that Russia was continuing to attack Ukraine and noted that his one-on-one meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Vatican on Saturday had gone well.
“I see him calmer. I think he understands the situation and I think he wants to make a deal,” Trump said of Zelenskyy.
Asked if he thought the Ukrainian president was ready to hand over control of Crimea, Trump replied: “I think so.”
Meanwhile, Rubio reiterated that the Trump administration might give up trying to reach a deal if Russia and Ukraine fail to make progress.
“This is going to be a very important week … It has to happen soon,” Rubio told NBC. “We cannot continue to devote time and resources to such efforts if they don’t come to fruition.”
Asked how much time the US president is willing to give Ukraine and Russia to reach an agreement, Rubio refused to give a specific deadline.
“It would be wrong to set a specific date… The President has devoted a lot of time and energy to this issue and I think we have brought the parties closer than they have been for a long time, but we still are not there,” Rubio said.
Trump and Zelenskyy, who were in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis, met on Saturday in the Vatican basilica to try to renew efforts to end the war.
AFTER THAT MEETING, TRUMP BERATED RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING ON SOCIAL MEDIA THAT THERE WAS “NO REASON” FOR RUSSIA TO FIRE MISSILES INTO CIVILIAN AREAS.
In a pre-recorded interview broadcast on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia would continue to target sites used by the Ukrainian military. Asked about Russia’s strike on Kyiv last week, which killed civilians, Lavrov said that “the target of the attack was not something absolutely civilian” and that Russia only targets “objects used by the military”.
Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram that his top military commander reported that Russia carried out almost 70 attacks on Sunday.
“The situation on the front and the real activity of the Russian army prove that there is currently not enough pressure on Russia from the world to put an end to this war,” Zelenskyy said.
BNN also reported that the peace proposals presented by the US last week and those drawn up by Europe and Ukraine differ one way or another. For example, the US proposals would recognise Russia’s control over Crimea, as well as de facto recognition of Russia’s authority over other parts of Ukraine. By contrast, the European and Ukrainian proposals postpone detailed discussions on the territory until after the ceasefire.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Sunday that Ukraine should not agree to the American proposal, saying that demanding territory in exchange for a ceasefire was going too far.
Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz said the US president had “expressed frustration” with both Putin and Zelenskyy, but remained committed to helping negotiate a deal. Waltz also said that the US and Ukraine would eventually reach an agreement on minerals.
Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the US Senate, said on Sunday that he was concerned that Trump would “cave in to Putin”.
“To just abandon Ukraine after all the sacrifice they’ve endured, after so many lives lost, and after the entire West united against Putin, would be a moral tragedy,” Schumer told CNN.