Trump’s frustrations with Zelenskyy escalate as US turns up pressure on Ukraine to reach peace deal

The Trump administration is increasing pressure on Ukraine to broker a peace deal ending the conflict with Russia as President Donald Trump grows increasingly irritated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to the White House. 

National Security Advisor Mike Waltz on Thursday admitted that Trump’s patience with Zelenskyy is running thin, and said that discussions Wednesday between U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg and Ukrainian officials focused on assisting Kyiv “understand” the war must come to a halt. 

“President Trump is obviously very frustrated right now with President Zelenskyy, the fact that he hasn’t come to the table, that he hasn’t been willing to take this opportunity that we have offered,” Waltz told reporters Thursday in a White House press briefing. “I think he eventually will get to that point, and I hope so very quickly.” 

“It certainly isn’t in Russia’s interest or in the American people’s interest for this war to grind on forever and ever and ever,” Waltz said. “So a key part of his conversation was helping President Zelenskyy understand this war needs to come to an end.” 

Vice President JD Vance on Thursday also defended the Trump administration’s decision to meet with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia, despite frustration from Ukraine that it was absent from those meetings. Vance stressed that communicating with Russia is key to advancing a deal, and said he believes Europe is on the “cusp of peace” for the first time in three years. 

“How are you going to end the war unless you’re talking to Russia?” Vance said at the Conservative Political Action Conference near the nation’s capital. “You’ve got to talk to everybody involved in the fighting. If you actually want to bring the conflict to a close.” 

Meanwhile, U.S. officials also have met with Ukrainian officials about a peace deal, and Kellogg said Wednesday in a post on X that the U.S. remains committed to ending the war and finding ways to establish “sustainable peace.” 

The increased pressure on Ukraine to agree to a deal comes on the heels of several tense days between Trump and Zelenskyy, as each hurled insults back and forth toward one another after the meetings between U.S. and Russian officials. 

While Zelenskyy accused Trump of perpetuating Russian “disinformation” on Wednesday, Trump took a jab back and labeled Zelenskyy a “dictator” who has failed his country and suggested Ukraine initiated the war. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. 

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Waltz met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs advisor, Yuri Ushakov, to hash out ways to end the conflict. 

Zelenskyy said Ukraine didn’t receive an invitation to the meeting and told reporters Tuesday in Turkey that “nobody decides anything behind our back,” after stressing in recent days that Kyiv will not agree to a peace negotiation without Ukraine’s input.

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Meanwhile, the U.S. has signaled interest in giving way to some of Russia’s demands for a peace agreement in recent days, and Trump told the BBC on Wednesday that he believes Russia is the one that has “the cards a little bit, because they’ve taken a lot of territory.” 

As of January, Russia has taken control of approximately 18% of Ukraine’s territory, according to the Washington, D.C.-based think tank the Brookings Institution. Trump’s Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Feb. 12 that it wasn’t realistic for Ukraine to regain its pre-war borders with Russia, prompting criticism that Ukraine is being forced to give into concessions. 

“Putin is going to pocket this and ask for more,” Brett Bruen, director of global engagement under former President Barack Obama, told Fox News Digital on Feb. 13. 

Additionally, the U.S. has suggested it backs holding an election in Ukraine — a key condition for Russia to agree to a peace deal. 

Nearly a year after Zelenskyy’s five-year term was slated to end, he has remained in his position leading Kyiv because the Ukrainian constitution bars holding elections under martial law. Ukraine has been under martial law since February 2022.

However, Russia wasn’t the only one exerting pressure to force Ukraine to hold an election, Trump said Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.  

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As a result, Zelenskyy’s hands may be tied and he may have no other option but to give in to the concessions, according to Trump’s former deputy National Security Advisor K.T. McFarland. 

“If President Zelenskyy is going to walk away from this and somehow say, ‘I’m against any deal with Russia, I’m against any deal with America.’ Really?” McFarland said Thursday in an interview with FOX Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria.” 

“Well, how does he plan to keep this country safe for the next 20, 30, 40 years?” McFarland said. 

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and Trump vowed on the campaign trail in 2024 that he would work to end the conflict if elected again.

Fox News’ Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.