WASHINGTON, D.C. - President Donald Trump raised expectations once again on Sunday over a possible peace agreement in Russia’s war against Ukraine, writing in a social media post that he hoped for a diplomatic breakthrough in the coming days without specifying what that might entail, Kyiv Post’s Washington correspondent reports.
“Hopefully Russia and Ukraine will make a deal this week,” Trump wrote in all capital letters on Truth Social platform. “Both will then start to do big business with the United States of America, which is thriving, and make a fortune,” he added.
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Trump’s optimism was at odds with the Kremlin’s official rejection of a White House-backed proposal for a 30-day pause in the war.
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Trump’s post came immediately before the expiration of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s “Easter truce” announced a day before, which was never really in effect due to Moscow’s violations, according to Ukrainian officials.
The move also came just days after the White House threatened to exit peace talks if progress wasn’t made. Trump repeatedly called on Kyiv and Moscow to show willingness to compromise.
In the meantime, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, along with Presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg, are expected to return to London this Wednesday to continue their talks with their Ukrainian counterparts and representatives of European allies, two Trump officials told Kyiv Post Sunday afternoon.
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“The full composition of the delegation and some other details are yet to be finalized, but regardless… Our team is ready to pick up from where they had left off last week in Paris,” one official said.
The White House officials didn’t rule out the possibility of another Witkoff visit to Moscow later this week, to sit down with Putin and “see if the Russians really want to end this [war].”
Razom for Ukraine, a US-based organization that advocates for Ukraine and provides humanitarian aid to the war-torn country, said in a social media post Sunday night that if Putin won’t stop attacking civilians, “it’s clear he isn’t ready for peace.”
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The likelihood is that, unless Trump reverses course very soon, any hope of a ceasefire in the near future will vanish.
“This is a moment of truth for President Trump,” the organization noted.
For Doug Klain, a policy analyst at Razom, the question now is what, if anything, the Trump administration will do about Russian intransigence.
Speaking to Kyiv Post, Klain said he’s not optimistic about Russia agreeing to stop fighting without a pressure on it to change its behavior.
“I certainly hope President Trump is right that we’ll have progress towards peace this week. To try to force Putin to stop stringing the US along, Ukraine proposed a ceasefire on all civilian infrastructure – either Putin wants to stop the fighting or he wants to keep murdering civilians, and it’s time the White House stopped making excuses for Putin,” he said.
Klain went on to add, “Russia doesn’t care about the massive human suffering it is inflicting on Ukraine and itself, and the dangling of a business deal with Trump is a deeply unserious carrot to induce Putin to stop fighting.”
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“Something has to change,” Klain concluded.
Alex Raufoglu
Alex Raufoglu is Kyiv Post's Chief Correspondent in Washington DC. He covers the US State Department, regularly traveling with US Secretary of State. Raufoglu has worked extensively in the South Caucasus and Black Sea regions for several international broadcast outlets, such as VoA, BBC, RFE/RL, etc. He holds an MA in Interactive Journalism from American University, Washington DC.
