Trump says Zelenskyy 'has to want' a deal as Lavrov claims peace would end his rule

Donald Trump turned up the pressure on Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday, telling reporters in the Oval Office that the Ukrainian president must want to end the war or face the consequences, hours after Russia’s foreign minister claimed that peace would cost Zelenskyy his job.

“Zelenskyy has to want to settle this war, and if he doesn’t, I think it’s going to be a very bad thing,” Trump said. “He’s going to have to want to make a deal, because I don’t think his people are going to stand for it any longer.”

Trump repeated his view that Zelenskyy could have had a “better deal” at their stormy Oval Office meeting in February 2025. Asked whether Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin could meet face to face, he spoke of “tremendous” hatred between the two leaders, then added: “I don’t care how it’s done.”

Oslo, then Moscow

The remarks came as Zelenskyy finished talks in Oslo with US envoy Steve Witkoff and European leaders. He said Ukraine had “some clear ideas on how to get to peace”, without spelling them out, and wanted Washington to carry them to Moscow. He again floated a three-way meeting of leaders. “Let’s see what Putin has to say,” he said.

Zelenskyy said Witkoff would travel on to Russia on Wednesday, where the discussions are expected to continue. That makes today the next test of whether the Oslo ideas survive contact with the Kremlin.

Lavrov’s charge

In Moscow, Sergey Lavrov accused the Ukrainian leader of sabotaging diplomacy. “Zelensky does not want negotiations and has disrupted them more than once,” the Russian foreign minister told reporters. “Apparently, it’s because he understands that any agreement acceptable to Russia and the US would spell the end of his regime, and of him personally.”

Lavrov offered no evidence. He listed the Minsk process, the 2022 Istanbul talks and this year’s meetings in Abu Dhabi and said none of them had ended because of Russia.

Russia, Ukraine and the United States held three rounds of trilateral talks early this year, two in Abu Dhabi in January and February and one in Geneva on 17 and 18 February. They produced a prisoner exchange but no ceasefire, and there have been no three-way meetings since.

The gaps are the same as ever. Moscow wants Kyiv to recognise its occupation and pull out of areas Russia claims but does not fully hold. Ukraine refuses and insists any settlement must protect its sovereignty and come with security guarantees that can be enforced.

A strained backdrop

Trump’s words land on a relationship already under strain. Ukrainian officials have complained of slowdowns to Starshield, the military version of SpaceX’s Starlink network that their forces rely on for communications. Elon Musk has blamed the White House; Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth have denied that the government directed any restriction.

Trump has also recently waived new sanctions under the Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, a law he signed only a month earlier, and announced a deal to buy Russian diesel. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is in India this week, has called the waiver a “balancing act”.

Kyiv will now wait to hear what Witkoff brings back from Russia.