President Donald Trump said Friday the U.S. will step back from mediating Ukraine war negotiations if Moscow and Kyiv fail to make swift progress.
Trump was speaking after Secretary of State Marco Rubio commented – following talks with European allies – that Washington would "move on" if a truce did not seem "doable" within days.
"Yeah, very shortly," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked to confirm what Rubio had said. "No specific number of days, but quickly. We want to get it done."
Trump refused to cast blame on either Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the February 2022 full-scale invasion of pro-Western Ukraine, or Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. But he insisted both sides had to make progress.
"Now, if for some reason one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we're just going to say: 'You're foolish. You're fools. You're horrible people' – and we're going to just take a pass," Trump said.
"But hopefully we won't have to do that."
Trump boasted repeatedly before returning for a second presidential term that he would end the Ukraine war within 24 hours. He claimed recently that he was being sarcastic.
Ukraine has agreed to a full temporary cease-fire and accused Russia of stalling on a deal to get a better negotiating position.
Trump stunned Western capitals when he opened direct talks with Putin in February, soon after taking office.
He said he hoped the Russian leader was not dragging his feet.
"I hope not," he said when asked if Putin was stalling. "I'll let you know soon."
Trump denied that he was being "played" by the former KGB agent, who denied Russia was going to invade right up until the eve of the attack.
"Nobody's playing me, I'm trying to help," Trump said.
