Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the United States has given Ukraine and Russia a new deadline of June to reach a peace settlement. The Ukrainian president told reporters that the Trump administration is proposing to host the next round of trilateral talks in the US, likely in Miami, within a week. He confirmed that Ukraine would take part.
Zelenskyy stated that Washington “will probably put pressure” on both sides to end the war by the beginning of summer. “They say they want to get everything done by June,” he said. If the deadline is not met, he added, the US would likely increase pressure on both parties to come to an agreement.
This is not the first time a target date has been set. Before taking office, Donald Trump promised to end the war in 24 hours. His special envoy, Keith Kellogg, later suggested a deal within 100 days of the inauguration. A previous deadline of August last year passed without progress, and in December Mr Trump claimed a draft agreement was nearly 95 per cent complete.
This week, two days of US-led peace talks were held in Abu Dhabi, but no breakthrough was achieved. Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s presidential office, described the trilateral negotiations as “genuinely constructive”.
Zelenskyy hinted that the June deadline might be linked to the upcoming US midterm elections. “The elections are definitely more important for them,” he said. He added that if Russia is truly ready to end the war, setting a deadline is important.
