President Donald Trump says he doesn’t want to waste time in talks to end the war in Ukraine.
His growing frustration appears to be aimed not at the Kremlin but at Kyiv and its backers in Europe, who on Thursday faced a deepening rift with the United States at a decisive moment.
As those longtime U.S. allies struggled to balance the mounting pressure from Washington with their reluctance to give in to Russia’s hardline demands, Trump signaled his patience was running thin.
“They would like us to go to a meeting over the weekend in Europe, and we’ll make a determination, depending on what they come back with. We don’t want to be wasting time,” he said.
Trump was speaking at a roundtable with business leaders Wednesday before Europe sent its response to the latest peace plan, focused on the pivotal issue of territorial concessions.
“Sometimes you have to let people fight it out and sometimes you don’t,” Trump added, casting further doubt over his desire to be involved in a new round of talks.
Trump also said he had exchanged “pretty strong words” on Ukraine during a call with European leaders, whom he called “very good friends of mine.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told a news conference Thursday that he, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had suggested to Trump that they finalize peace proposals together with the U.S. over the weekend.
The continent has been shaken by Trump’s latest shift, after months of stop-start diplomacy that has yet to yield any breakthroughs.