U.S. President Donald Trump is reportedly applying more pressure on Ukraine than on Russia in his effort to broker a peace deal, the Wall Street Journal reports. Sources cited by the newspaper say Trump has been reluctant to push Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has shown little willingness to make the concessions needed for an agreement. American officials have observed that the White House has leaned harder on Kyiv than on Moscow. Although the United States has considered punitive measures to encourage Moscow to negotiate, it has so far refrained from taking such steps.
The development follows a phone call between Trump and Putin in which the two leaders agreed to hold a summit in Budapest, Hungary, in the coming weeks. To build diplomatic momentum, U.S. officials are planning a series of lower‑level meetings with their Russian counterparts, to be led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s team rather than special envoy Kurt Volker. Ukrainian and EU diplomats view this shift positively, seeing it as a potential change in the U.S. approach to the negotiations.
Trump has said he told both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Putin that “it is time to stop the killing, and make a DEAL.” After meeting Zelensky at the White House, Trump tweeted that he had advised both leaders to “stop where they are,” allowing each side to claim victory while “history decides.” The meeting reportedly focused on possible deliveries of long‑range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, a move Moscow has warned would undermine a peaceful settlement and damage Russia‑U.S. relations.
Russia has praised the Trump administration for its willingness to understand the root causes of the conflict, while the United States continues diplomatic efforts to resolve it. The international community watches closely as the upcoming Budapest summit approaches, hoping for a peaceful resolution. Balancing its relationships with both Ukraine and Russia, the United States faces an uncertain path forward, and the success of these diplomatic initiatives remains in question.
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