President Trump’s “patience is running very thin” with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as negotiations for an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine stretch on, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday.
“The president’s frustrated; his patience is running very thin,” she told an impromptu gathering in the White House driveway. “He wants to do what’s right for the world. He wants to see peace. He wants to see the killing stop, but you need both sides of the war willing to do that, and unfortunately, President Zelensky seems to be moving in the wrong direction.”
Trump publicly blasted Zelensky in a Truth Social post earlier Wednesday, accusing the Ukrainian leader of stymieing peace talks with his remarks this week about Russia’s occupation of Crimea.
“Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea,” Zelensky said during a press conference Tuesday in Kyiv, as quoted in a Wall Street Journal article that Trump cited in his subsequent post. “There’s nothing to talk about here. This is against our constitution.”
Trump wrote online that Zelensky’s comment was “very harmful” to the talks and that Crimea “is not even a point of discussion.”
“Nobody is asking Zelenskyy to recognize Crimea as Russian Territory but, if he wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it eleven years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired?” Trump wrote. “It’s inflammatory statements like Zelenskyy’s that makes it so difficult to settle this War.”
Leavitt stressed Trump’s point that Russia moved to annex Crimea in 2014 — three years before Trump entered the White House for his first term.
“As President Trump rightfully pointed out in that statement, it was President Obama who gave up Crimea, who allowed Russia to take it over in 2014, and so the president is not asking Ukraine to recognize Crimea,” she said. “Nobody has asked them to do that. What he is asking is for people to come to the negotiating table, recognizing that this has been a brutal war for far too long.”
“And in order to make a good deal, both sides have to walk away a little bit unhappy, and unfortunately, President Zelensky has been trying to litigate this peace negotiation in the press, and that’s unacceptable to the president,” she added.
While campaigning for president, Trump repeatedly claimed he could settle the war in one day once elected.
But his administration’s efforts, so far, have been unfruitful.
A February meeting with Zelensky at the White House quickly unraveled with a blowup in front of reporters, but Trump administration officials have continued peace talks with both countries.
But Trump last week indicated the U.S. would be ready to walk away from its peace-brokering efforts if a resolution didn’t come together quickly.
“If, for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say, ‘You’re foolish, you’re fools, you’re horrible people,’ and we’re going to just take a pass,” he said Friday.
Leavitt wouldn’t say at what point Trump will walk away after the latest bout of tension with Zelensky.
“Not by the end of the day today, but the president has maintained that his frustration is growing and he needs to see this thing come to an end,” she said.