President Donald Trump on Wednesday said “we’ll know within two weeks” whether Russian President Vladimir Putin has interest in ending the war in Ukraine.
Following the Oval Office swearing in of interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, Trump answered reporters’ questions, with the first one concerning whether he believes Putin actually wants to end the war.
“I can’t tell you that, but I’ll let you know in about two weeks, within two weeks, we’re gonna find out very soon,” Trump said. “We’re gonna find out whether or not he’s tapping us along or not. And if he is, we’ll respond a little bit differently.
“But it’ll take about a week and a half, two weeks.”
Trump then mentioned special envoy Steve Witkoff, who has been negotiating with Putin, and also his disappointment at Russian drones continuing to kill Ukrainian civilians.
“[Witkoff’s] doing a phenomenal job is dealing with him [Putin] very strongly right now,” Trump said. “They [Russians] seem to want to do something but until the document is signed, I can’t tell you. Nobody can.
“I can say this, that I’m very disappointed at what happened a couple of nights now, where people were killed in the middle of what you would call a negotiation. I’m very disappointed by that, very disappointed.”
Later, Trump was asked what was stopping him from placing further sanctions on Russia.
“Only the fact that if I think I’m close to getting a deal, I don’t want to screw it up by doing that,” he said.
Trump on Tuesday warned Putin that he’s “playing with fire” in comments, as reports grow that the U.S. could impose new sanctions on Moscow.
“What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD,” Trump posted on his Truth Social page. “He’s playing with fire!”
On Wednesday, Trump envoy Keith Kellogg scolded a top Russian official for stoking fears of World War III after Trump warned Putin was “playing with fire” over Ukraine.
Top Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev, a former president, dismissed Trump’s criticism.
“Stoking fears of WW III is an unfortunate, reckless comment… and unfitting of a world power,” Kellogg said on X.
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