United States President Donald Trump has set a deadline of “10 or 12 days” for Russia to agree to a peace deal with Ukraine, before the U.S. adds further sanctions on Russia.
Russian and Ukrainian officials have held several rounds of talks in 2025, including agreeing to a prisoner exchange last week, but reported no progress towards a ceasefire. Russian President Vladimir Putin has not attended these negotiations.
“I’m going to make a new deadline of about 10, 10 or 12 days from today,” Trump said. “There’s no reason in waiting. There’s no reason in waiting. It’s 50 days. I want to be generous, but we just don’t see any progress being made.”
“Trump's playing the ultimatum game with Russia: 50 days or 10,” wrote Putin advisor and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on X. “Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country.”
Trump had said earlier this month that he would impose tariffs of up to 100% on Russia’s trading partners if it did not end its invasion of Ukraine within 50 days.
He also said last week that he was considering adding secondary sanctions before the 50-day deadline ended, which would target countries purchasing oil from Russia.
Ukrainian officials have proposed direct negotiations between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for August, but Putin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia would only agree to a direct meeting as a final step in a peace process.
The two countries agreed to exchange at least 1,200 prisoners of war from each side in talks last week in Istanbul. Ukraine also called for an immediate ceasefire, while Russia said it favoured a series of 24-48 hour ceasefires to retrieve bodies.
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