The US has prepared further sanctions should Trump decide to act on Russia's continued rejection of a peace deal, with US and Ukrainian officials having made significant progress on a plan to end the fighting.
President Donald Trump faulted Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy as the main obstacle to an agreement to end the war Russia launched against his country four years ago.
Trump, in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, described Russian President Vladimir Putin as "ready to make a deal," Reuters reported. When pressed on what was impeding a deal, Trump replied, "Zelenskiy," Reuters said.
The American president has oscillated between blaming Ukraine and Russia for failing to reach an accord, which he had claimed during his 2024 presidential campaign could be easily resolved.
The US has prepared further sanctions should Trump decide to act on Russia's continued rejection of a peace deal. US and Ukrainian officials have said they've made significant progress on a 20-point plan to end the fighting; however, Kyiv and Moscow remain at an impasse over a number of issues including territorial control of areas Russia claims that remain under Ukrainian control.
Trump's comments mark a shift from recent weeks in which he had expressed growing frustration with Putin amid a year-end frenzied diplomatic push to end the war.
The president had said he was "not thrilled" with his Russian counterpart earlier this month and that too many people were dying, bristling at the Kremlin for continuing military strikes on Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure. Putin in recent weeks dampened hopes for an approaching deal even as Trump and Zelenskiy had expressed growing optimism.
Last week, Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who is close to the White House, said Trump had "greenlit" a bipartisan Russia sanctions bill. "I look forward to a strong bipartisan vote, hopefully as early as next week," Graham said then. A White House official confirmed that Trump supported the legislation.
Trump's new remarks also come as special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, are looking to travel to Moscow to meet with Putin in the near future, according to people familiar with the matter. That meeting could take place as soon as this month, the people said, but they cautioned that the plans were not finalized.
The US officials will present the latest draft plans to Putin and his team, other people said.
The comments to Reuters are also likely to alarm European allies worried that Trump will force harsh concessions on Ukraine in his eagerness to smooth over a number of key sticking points remaining in talks.
The Kremlin has stuck to demands that Ukraine withdraw troops from the remaining areas of the eastern Donbas region, including territory that Russia has failed to seize by force. Ukraine has instead suggested freezing the current line of contact or a pullback by both sides to create a buffer zone.
Other critical points of contention include control over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant -- which Russian forces seized -- and the fate of some $300 billion in Russia's frozen central bank assets.
Moscow is also against NATO troops deploying in Ukraine. Kyiv has sought security guarantees from its allies to help avoid any further Russian aggression in the event of a peace deal.
European and Ukrainian negotiators have made progress on that front in recent weeks, including on ways to monitor any ceasefire, deter Russia from new attacks and on how to respond if Moscow does, as well as deals that would cover Ukraine's economic development.
Zelenskiy is hoping to finalize the agreements next week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a gathering that is also expected to draw European leaders as well as Trump.