Trump pushes Russia to accelerate Ukraine ceasefire talks
6 Min Read
US President Trump urges Russia to fast-track ceasefire talks with Ukraine, as negotiations continue to face setbacks due to unresolved issues.
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US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One before departing from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on April 11, 2025 (AFP)
US President Donald Trump on Friday urged Russia to expedite ceasefire talks with Ukraine, as negotiations over a full halt to the fighting have stalled.
“Russia has to get moving. Too many people [are] DYING, thousands a week,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, expressing growing frustration over the lack of progress in fulfilling his campaign pledge to end the war.
His concerns have mounted as both Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of breaching a fragile moratorium on strikes targeting energy infrastructure.
According to Axios, the US president is considering imposing new sanctions on Russia if it fails to agree to a ceasefire by the end of April.
Trump described the war as “terrible and senseless” in his post, which came as his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, was visiting St. Petersburg for talks with Russian President Putin toward a peace agreement for Ukraine.
Earlier, Witkoff met with Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s envoy for international economic cooperation and head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund.
Separately, on Thursday, Russia released US-Russian dual national Ksenia Karelina as part of a prisoner exchange in Abu Dhabi.
Karelina was swapped for Arthur Petrov, a German-Russian dual national who had been detained in Cyprus at the request of US authorities for allegedly exporting sensitive US-made microelectronics to Russia.
Russia says Putin-Witkoff discussions were productive
State television showed Putin welcoming Witkoff at the presidential library in St. Petersburg at the start of their meeting, which lasted more than four hours, according to state news agencies.
Following the talks, the Kremlin stated, "The theme of the meeting — aspects of a Ukrainian settlement."
Russian state news agency TASS reported that Dmitriev described the discussions as productive.
The talks come at a time when US-Russia negotiations aimed at reaching a ceasefire before a potential peace deal to end the war in Ukraine have stalled, primarily due to disagreements over the terms for a full halt in hostilities.
Putin has indicated his readiness to agree to a full ceasefire in principle but stressed that critical implementation details remain unresolved, with what he considers the war’s root causes still unaddressed.
In particular, Putin has stated that Ukraine should not join NATO, its military size should be restricted, and Russia should retain full control over the four Ukrainian regions it claims, despite not fully controlling them.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested that Putin and Witkoff might discuss the possibility of a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Trump.
Although Putin and Trump have communicated by phone, they have not met in person since Trump resumed his second term as US president in January.
However, Peskov downplayed expectations for significant outcomes from the Witkoff-Putin meeting, telling Russian state media prior to the talks that no breakthroughs were anticipated and that the visit would mainly allow Russia to voice its concerns.
Russia says Ukraine violated energy infrastructure moratorium more than 60 times
Meanwhile, Alexey Polishchuk, Director of the Second CIS Department at Russia’s Foreign Ministry, told RIA Novosti that Ukraine had violated the 30-day moratorium on strikes against energy infrastructure—agreed on March 18 by Presidents Putin and Trump and later supported by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky—more than 60 times.
Polishchuk said Ukrainian forces attempt such strikes multiple times each day, adding, “The Kiev regime is indeed maliciously violating the 30-day moratorium."
He pointed out that these violations suggest either that no order was issued to halt the attacks or that the order is not being followed.
"Both of these reasons are extremely worrying," the Russian diplomat emphasized, saying that if no order was given, this would constitute deliberate sabotage of the agreement.
If the order was ignored, it would indicate a lack of control by Ukrainian authorities over their own forces, he argued.
His remarks came as the Russian Ministry of Defense announced on Saturday that air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 36 Ukrainian drones over several regions during the night.
In a statement, the ministry said that 18 drones were destroyed over the Kursk region, 13 over the Rostov region, two over the Oryol and Belgorod regions, and one over the Krasnodar region.
Trump's special envoy accuses The Times of misrepresenting his remarks
On Friday, Trump's special envoy Keith Kellogg accused The Times newspaper of misrepresenting his remarks regarding Ukraine’s future security structure.
The Times had reported that Kellogg proposed "partitioning" Ukraine into control zones—similar to post-WWII Berlin—without US ground troops.
According to the report, Kellogg envisioned a system involving multiple countries: with British and French troops stationed in western Ukraine, Ukrainian forces and a demilitarized zone in the middle, and Russian forces further east.
Kellogg refuted this characterization on X, writing, "The Times article misrepresents what I said. I was speaking of a post-cease fire resiliency force in support of Ukraine’s sovereignty."
"In discussions of partitioning, I was referencing areas or zones of responsibility for an allied force (without US troops). I was NOT referring to a partitioning of Ukraine," he added.
The Times article misrepresents what I said. I was speaking of a post-cease fire resiliency force in support of Ukraine’s sovereignty. In discussions of partitioning, I was referencing areas or zones of responsibility for an allied force (without US troops). I was NOT referring… https://t.co/wFBcEVjxtO
— Keith Kellogg (@generalkellogg) April 11, 2025
Earlier in April, Polishchuk had also warned that discussions in London and Paris about sending deterrent forces to Ukraine amounted to preparation for foreign intervention.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova had previously cautioned that any foreign military presence in Ukraine would be seen as a direct threat to Russia and risk triggering a military confrontation.
Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) earlier claimed that Western countries were preparing to deploy a so-called peacekeeping contingent of roughly 100,000 personnel to help restore Ukraine’s combat capabilities—a move it described as de facto occupation.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stressed that any deployment of peacekeepers would require consent from all parties involved in the conflict, adding that it is premature to discuss such measures.
On March 6, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ruled out any compromise on the issue of deploying foreign peacekeepers in Ukraine. He argued that such a move would undermine negotiations and lead Western nations to avoid discussing terms for a peaceful resolution.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has similarly condemned EU proposals to send “peacekeepers” to Ukraine, calling them provocative and designed to perpetuate false hopes in Kiev.
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