Trump: US will not engage in Ukraine peace negotiations if Russia does not cooperate

President Donald Trump stated on Friday that the U.S. will step back from peace efforts for Ukraine if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not agree to ceasefire terms. 

Trump expressed, “If one party makes the negotiation difficult, we’ll call them out and step back, but hopefully, it won’t come to that.”

This mirrors the sentiments shared by Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier on Friday after a meeting in Paris with special envoy Steve Witkoff, French President Emmanuel Macron, and representatives from Ukraine, Germany, and the U.K. This meeting, a significant development, indicated increased European participation in U.S. initiatives to broker a Ukraine-Russia ceasefire.

President Donald Trump speaks during a swearing-in ceremony for Dr. Mehmet Oz, right, as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Friday.

Last month, during an interview with NBC News, Trump said he was “very angry” and “pissed off” after Putin first showed signs of being unwilling to engage in a ceasefire with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault — which it might not be — but if I think it was Russia’s fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia,” he said.

Firefighters put out a blaze following Russia’s missile attack that killed at least 20 civilians in Sumy, Ukraine, on Sunday. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

“That would be that if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States,” he added. “There will be a 25% tariff on all oil, a 25- to 50-point tariff on all oil.”

Trump would not comment on the “specific number of days” Russia has before he determines whether it’s serious about ending the war, but he told reporters on Friday it needs to happen “quickly — we want to get it done.”