President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he wanted an agreement to end the Russian-Ukraine War in “two weeks or less,” but then said a little more time could be accepted.
Trump’s deadline came a day after he met with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Vatican city when they were in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis.
“I think the meeting goes well, we will see what happened for the next few days. We might learn a lot,” Trump told reporters about the foundation at the Morristown City Airport in New Jersey before returning to Washington.
Trump said he was “very disappointed” that Russia continued to carry out missiles and drone attacks in Ukraine a few days after he requested Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the attack while negotiations continued.
President Donald Trump arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, NJ, April 26, 2025, after returning from the trip to attend the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Evan Vucci/AP
When asked what he and Zelenskyy were talking about, Trump said Zelenskyy emphasized their needs for more weapons.
“He told me that he needed more weapons and we would see what was happening – I wanted to see what, in connection with Russia – with Russia I was surprised and disappointed when they made a bombing,” Trump said.
When asked what he wanted from Putin, Trump answered, “I want him to stop shooting, sitting and signing an agreement. We have the limits of the agreement that I believe and I want him to sign it and finish with it and only come back to life.”
Trump also said that Ukraine regained his territory in Crimea occupied by Russia in 2014 would be complicated while blaming former President Barack Obama for allowing Russia to take the region. Asked if he thought Ukraine would surrender Crimea, Trump said, “I think so.”
Earlier on Sunday, State Secretary Marco Rubio said that Russia and Ukraine were closer to the agreement after Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy, but the agreement was still absent.
He said the US now needs to weigh if it’s time for the US to enter to mediate the conversation.
“Well, I think they are closer in general than them in the last three years, but still not there,” Rubio told NBC “Meet the Press.”
“We cannot continue, as I said, to dedicate time and resources for this effort if it will not produce results. So this last week is really true about knowing how close these parties are completely and whether they are close enough so that this is worthy of continuous investment from our time as a mediator in this case.”
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky met with President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the funeral of Pope Francis in Basilica St. Peter in Vatican, April 26, 2025.
@ermaaka2022/AFP through Getty Images
Trump and Zelenskyy met in the Vatican city on Saturday while the two were in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis. White House Communication Director Steven Cheung said both had a “very productive session.” Zelenskyy described the meeting as “good” in a post in X and said, “Expecting the results we discussed. Protect the lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceases. Reliable and eternal peace that will prevent other war from break.
After their meeting, Trump criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for sustainable Moscow bombings in Ukraine cities, which continued overnight until Sunday morning with more drone attacks in six Ukraine regions. The Russian Ministry of Defense said his troops dropped eight Ukraine drones overnight until Sunday morning.
Rubio was asked why the US believed that Putin would not attack Ukraine or other European countries because he had never recognized Ukraine’s right to exist.
“Well, I don’t think the peace agreement is built on trust. I think a peaceful agreement must be built on verification. It must be built on facts, it must be built on action, it must be built on reality,” Rubio said. “So this is not a problem, well, trust. This is a problem of building in terms of this kind, verification, security, guarantees, things that have been discussed in the past,” Rubio said.
State Secretary Marco Rubio attended a meeting that eradicated the anti-Christian bias task force, at the Department of Justice in Washington, April 22, 2025.
Ken Cedeno/Reuters
Rubio said the US had made a “real progess, but the last few steps of this trip would always be the most difficult, and it needed to happen immediately.”
Rubio will not describe the agreement time line but instead emphasizes this is a “critical week” for the US
“This week will be a very important week where we have to make a determination about whether this is an effort that we want to continue to be involved, or if it’s time to focus on several other problems that are the same, if not more important, in some cases, but we want to see that happen, there are reasons to be optimistic, but there are more important reasons, but good lectures,” with themselves. “We are close, but we are not close enough.”
Asked whether he supported negotiations, the minority leader of the Chuck Schumer Senate told CNN “State of the Union that he was worried that Trump would surrender to Putin and” sell “Zelenskyy.
“Well, look, my extraordinary fear, funds, is that Trump will only surrender to Putin,” Schumer told CNN’s Dana Bash. “That is the overall indication so far. And, of course, the point is very simple, that if we give up Putin, if Trump leads to Putin, it is three – it is bad in three very bad ways:” Leaving Ukraine will become a “moral tragedy, he said, and will” tear “the Allianrate with all European allies.
“But, third, and maybe the worst, it is a sign that the United States is weak. This sends a signal to every dictator in China, in North Korea, in Iran that, if you stand and bluff Trump, you will get your way,” he said.
National security advisor Mike Waltz told Fox News “Sunday Morning Futures” that more sanctions for Russia could come when the US tried to force him to make an agreement.
“[Trump] Talking about the potential for banking actions, the potential for action in the oil and gas sector. But he was determined to use carrots and sticks to bring both sides to the table, “he said.