U.S. President Donald Trump has publicly called on Russia to “get moving” and end its war in Ukraine, describing the conflict as “senseless” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
The statement came as his envoy, Steve Witkoff, held another round of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg.
Despite several rounds of diplomacy since Trump returned to office, the negotiations have yielded few concrete results. Witkoff’s latest meeting with Putin, which lasted four and a half hours, reportedly focused on resolving the war in Ukraine, though the Kremlin offered little detail.
Frustration has been growing in Washington. Trump said he was “pissed off” with Putin, and top U.S. officials like Senator Marco Rubio warned that America would not tolerate “endless negotiations.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky echoed concerns that Moscow is deliberately stalling the process, accusing Russia of pulling China into the conflict. He also claimed that hundreds of Chinese nationals are fighting alongside Russian troops — a charge the Kremlin denied.
Meanwhile, Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, floated the idea of a “reassurance force” — potentially British and French troops stationed west of the Dnipro River to stabilize the region post-ceasefire. He compared the concept to Cold War-era Berlin’s division, stressing that the U.S. would not commit troops.
The ceasefire proposal reportedly backed by Ukraine was rejected by Russia, which has tied any truce — particularly in the Black Sea — to sanctions relief.
Despite the deadlock, Trump has made strides in prisoner diplomacy. Russia recently released U.S.-Russian ballerina Ksenia Karelina in exchange for tech smuggling suspect Arthur Petrov, marking the second such swap in recent months.
The prospect of a direct Trump-Putin summit remains uncertain, though Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it’s a “maybe.”