Donald Trump hints at Russia-Ukraine peace deal 'success' as he gives Zelensky deadline

Donald Trump says that he can see "success" on a peace deal between and Ukraine with talks going "smoothly" but he has continued to put pressure on .

The US leader said today that “Crimea will stay with Russia” which was another example of how he is trying to get Ukraine to make concessions to end the war while the country remains under siege. And he has now also demanded on social media that Zelensky “IMMEDIATELY” sign a long-delayed agreement giving the United States access to his nation’s mineral resources.

With Trump envoy Steve Witkoff making another visit to Moscow to meet with Russian President on Friday, Trump wrote that “SUCCESS seems to be in the future!”

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He stated on Truth Social: ", headed by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has not signed the final papers on the very important Rare Earths Deal with the United States. It is at least three weeks late. Hopefully, it will be signed IMMEDIATELY. Work on the overall Peace Deal between Russia and Ukraine is going smoothly. SUCCESS seems to be in the future!"

Progress on ending the war has been elusive in the months since Trump returned to the White House, and his previous claims of imminent breakthroughs have failed to come to fruition. Russia continued its bombardment of Ukraine on Friday, killing three people with a drone strike on an apartment building in a southeastern city.

Despite a rare admonishment of Putin this week, Trump’s focus has largely been on urging Zelensky to cut a deal that would involve ceding territory to Ukraine’s invader. In an interview with Time magazine, Trump described Crimea as a place where Russia has “had their submarines” and “the people speak largely Russian.”

“Crimea will stay with Russia,” Trump said. “And Zelensky understands that, and everybody understands that it’s been with them for a long time. It’s been with them long before Trump came along.”

Crimea is a strategic peninsula along the Black Sea in southern Ukraine. It was seized by Russia in 2014, while President was in office, years before Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour in 2022.

Trump has been accusing Zelensky of prolonging the war by resisting negotiations with Putin. Western European leaders, however, have accused Putin of dragging his feet in the negotiations and seeking to grab more Ukrainian land while his army has battlefield momentum.

The war could be approaching a pivotal moment as the Trump administration weighs its options. Senior US officials have warned that the administration could soon give up attempts to stop the war if the two sides do not come to a settlement.

That could potentially mean a halt of crucial U.S. military aid for Ukraine. Zelensky has repeated many times during the war that recognizing occupied Ukrainian territory as Russian is a red line for his country.

Speaking to reporters on Friday as he left the White House to attend the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, Trump said there is no deadline for the conclusion of peace talks. “I just want to do it as fast as possible,” Trump said. Negotiators are “pretty close” to a deal, he said.

He promised to meet with foreign leaders while in Rome, and said it was “possible” he could meet with Zelensky but the Ukraine leader said that he was not sure he would be able to make it to Rome in time for the funeral.