Trump says he's reducing 50-day deadline for Russia to make Ukraine deal

President Trump said Monday that he will reduce the time frame for Russia and Ukraine to make a deal to end the war, creating a much tighter deadline than the 50-day limit he announced two weeks ago.

Expressing skepticism that Russian President Vladimir Putin will agree to a peace deal, Mr. Trump made clear his frustration with the inability to strike an agreement.

“We are going to have to look and I’m going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number, because I think I already know the answer [to] what’s going to happen,” the president said. 

Mr. Trump also repeated his criticism of Mr. Putin, accusing him of talking about ending the war, only to continue bombing Ukraine.

“We thought we had [a peace deal] settled numerous times and then President Putin goes out and starts launching rockets into some city like Kyiv and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever,” Mr. Trump said. “And I say, ‘that’s not the way to do it.’ I’m disappointed in President Putin.” 

Earlier this month, Mr. Trump issued an ultimatum to Russia, giving the Kremlin 50 days to accept a peace deal with Ukraine or face bruising sanctions on energy exports. Russia has shown no sign of backing down, however, and is pursuing a summer offensive. 

Mr. Putin has repeatedly declared that any peace deal should see Ukraine withdraw from the four regions that Russia annexed in September 2022 but has never fully captured. He also wants Ukraine to renounce its bid to join NATO and accept strict limits on its armed forces, which Kyiv and its Western allies have rejected. 

Ukrainian officials welcomed Mr. Trump’s ultimatum, saying it was part of the tough actions needed to target Russia. They also publicly mused that the 50-day deadline was too long. 

Russia currently holds about 20% of Ukraine. Ukraine’s depleted army has recently been losing more territory, but there is no sign of a looming collapse on the front lines.