Since taking office last year, the US president has repeatedly used tough deadlines as a central tool in his efforts to broker a peaceful resolution to the wars. He has set deadlines for Hamas to respond to US-backed peace proposals in Gaza, imposed a two-month deadline for Iran to agree on a new nuclear deal and set several potential deadlines for Ukraine and Russia to reach a settlement. Now Trump has set another deadline, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky , who said the US wants a deal by June to end the war, NBC News reports.
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“The Americans are proposing that the parties end the war by the beginning of this summer and will probably put pressure on the parties precisely according to this schedule,” Zelensky told reporters. “They say they want to do everything by June. And they will do everything to stop the war. And they want a clear schedule of all events.”
Deadlines alone are unlikely to change the fundamentals of the war, which will soon enter its fifth year, analysts warn, while the core disputes that have stalled previous peace efforts remain unresolved.
Trump has set and moved deadlines in the Ukraine war before. During his campaign, he repeatedly promised to end the conflict within 24 hours of taking office, a promise he later called more ambitious than literal. His special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, suggested that the two sides could reach an agreement within 100 days of Trump’s inauguration, which also failed to materialize. Since then, Donald Trump has floated several unofficial deadlines for progress, including fixed windows for Moscow to engage in negotiations and public time frames for reaching a settlement, none of which have resulted in a lasting ceasefire or agreement.
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An August deadline for a deal set by Trump last year has passed with no sign of peace, as have hopes for a deal by Thanksgiving. In December, Trump said the draft agreement to end the war was “about 95 percent done.”
Ukraine, Russia and the United States held their first trilateral talks on a peace deal last month, Zelensky said, with further talks soon to take place on American soil. While officials have called the talks constructive, major obstacles remain, chief among them the future of territory in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow has shown little sign of softening its demands.
The stalemate “could spiral out of control if one side really collapses under pressure,” said Moritz Brake, a senior fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in Security, Strategy, and Integration .
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“That’s what both sides are hoping for, probably in their own ways,” he told NBC News, “And Ukraine is looking to take advantage of the potential fragmentation of the Russian military effort, while Russia is really hoping they can overthrow Ukraine on the battlefield.”
But “time is not on Ukraine’s side,” said Michael Botsiurkiv, a freelance senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasian Center .
“Zelensky is in a dead end now,” he said. “Territory is the main issue, and it’s not something he can give up even a little bit, given the amount of blood that has been spilled. If Trump “talks about putting pressure on Kyiv, it’s the Ukrainians who will get the smaller end of the stick. Every time the war could turn in Ukraine’s favor, like getting more powerful long-range missiles, there’s a phone call between Trump and Putin, and everything changes.”
Despite all the politics and posturing at the negotiating table, people are dying, and little has changed on the ground.
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“I don't see this war ending before the summer,” added Bociurkiv. “Ukraine is really suffering, especially the civilian population, but I don't see it ending unless a miracle happens.”
Previously, “FACTS” wrote that Putin received a signal of support from Xi.