DUBAI: During his campaign, Donald Trump said repeatedly that he would be able to end the war between Russia and Ukraine “in 24 hours” upon taking office. He has changed his tone since becoming president again.
As various US emissaries have held talks looking for an end to the war, both Trump and his top officials have become more reserved about the prospects of a peace deal. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday suggested the US might soon back away from negotiations altogether without more progress, adding a comment that sounded like a repudiation of the president’s old comments.
“No one’s saying this can be done in 12 hours,” he told reporters.
The promises made by presidential candidates are often felled by the realities of governing. But Trump’s shift is noteworthy given his prior term as president and his long histories with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The White House on Friday did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on Trump’s evolving deadline comments.
Here’s a look at Trump’s evolution on the way he talks about the Russia-Ukraine war:
‘A very easy negotiation’
MARCH 2023: “There’s a very easy negotiation to take place. But I don’t want to tell you what it is because then I can’t use that negotiation; it’ll never work,” Trump told Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity, claiming that he could “solve” the war “in 24 hours” if he were back in the White House.
“But it’s a very easy negotiation to take place. I will have it solved within one day, a peace between them,” Trump said of the war, which at that point had been ongoing for more than a year since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
MAY 2023: “They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done — I’ll have that done in 24 hours,” Trump said during a town hall on CNN.
JULY 2024: When asked to respond to Trump’s one-day claim, Russia’s United Nations Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters that “the Ukrainian crisis cannot be solved in one day.” Afterward, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said that “a top priority in his second term will be to quickly negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.”
AUGUST 2024: “Before I even arrive at the Oval Office, shortly after I win the presidency, I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled,” Trump told a National Guard Conference. “I’ll get it settled very fast. I don’t want you guys going over there. I don’t want you going over there.”
After Trump wins in November
DEC. 16, 2024: “I’m going to try,” Trump said during a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago club, asked if he thought he could still make a deal with Putin and Zelensky to end the war.
JAN. 8, 2025: In a Fox News Channel interview, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg — now serving as Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia — proposed a 100-day deadline to end the war. Friday marked 100 days since that interview. The 100th day of Trump’s presidency is April 30.
Trump becomes president and starts negotiations
JAN. 31: Trump says his new administration has already had “very serious” discussions with Russia and says he and Putin could soon take “significant” action toward ending the grinding conflict.
“We will be speaking, and I think will perhaps do something that’ll be significant,” Trump said in an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office. “We want to end that war. That war would have not started if I was president.”
FEB. 12: Trump and Putin speak for more than an hour and Trump speaks afterward with Zelensky. Trump says afterward, “I think we’re on the way to getting peace.”
FEB. 19: Trump posts on his Truth Social site that Zelensky is serving as a “dictator without elections.” He adds that “we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only ‘TRUMP,’ and the Trump Administration, can do.”
FEB. 28: Trump and Zelensky have a contentious Oval Office meeting. Trump berates Zelensky for being “disrespectful,” then abruptly calls off the signing of a minerals deal that Trump said would have moved Ukraine closer to ending the war.
Declaring himself “in the middle” and not on the side of either Ukraine or Russia in the conflict, Trump went on to deride Zelensky’s “hatred” for Putin as a roadblock to peace.
“You see the hatred he’s got for Putin,” Trump said. “That’s very tough for me to make a deal with that kind of hate.”
The Ukrainian leader was asked to leave the White House by top Trump advisers shortly after Trump shouted at him. Trump later told reporters that he wanted an “immediate ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine but expressed doubt that Zelensky was ready to make peace.
MARCH 3: Trump temporarily pauses military aid to Ukraine to pressure Zelensky to seek peace.
Trump claims his 24-hour promise was ‘sarcastic’
MARCH 14: Trump says he was “being a little bit sarcastic” when he repeatedly claimed as a candidate that he would have the Russia-Ukraine war solved within 24 hours.
“Well, I was being a little bit sarcastic when I said that,” Trump says in a clip released from an interview for the “Full Measure” television program. “What I really mean is I’d like to get it settled and, I’ll, I think, I think I’ll be successful.”
MARCH 18-19: Trump speaks with both Zelensky and Putin on successive days.
In a March 18 call, Putin told Trump that he would agree not to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure but refused to back a full 30-day ceasefire that Trump had proposed. Afterward, Trump on social media heralded that move, which he said came “with an understanding that we will be working quickly to have a Complete Ceasefire and, ultimately, an END to this very horrible War between Russia and Ukraine.”
In their own call a day later, Trump suggested that Zelensky should consider giving the US ownership of Ukraine’s power plants to ensure their long-term security. Trump told Zelensky that the UScould be “very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise,” according to a White House statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz.
APRIL 14: Trump says “everybody” is to blame: Zelensky, Putin and Biden.
“That’s a war that should have never been allowed to start and Biden could have stopped it and Zelensky could have stopped it and Putin should have never started it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
Talk of moving on
APRIL 18: Rubio says that the US may “move on” from trying to secure a Russia-Ukraine peace deal if there is no progress in the coming days.
He spoke in Paris after landmark talks among US, Ukrainian and European officials produced outlines for steps toward peace and appeared to make some long-awaited progress. A new meeting is expected next week in London, and Rubio suggested it could be decisive in determining whether the Trump administration continues its involvement.
“We are now reaching a point where we need to decide whether this is even possible or not,” Rubio told reporters. “Because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on. It’s not our war. We have other priorities to focus on.”
He said the US administration wants to decide “in a matter of days.”
Later that day, Trump told reporters at the White House that he agreed with Rubio that a Ukraine peace deal must be done “quickly.”
“I have no specific number of days but quickly. We want to get it done,” he said.
Saying “Marco is right” that the dynamic of the negotiations must change, Trump stopped short of saying he’s ready to walk away from peace negotiations.
“Well, I don’t want to say that,” Trump said. “But we want to see it end.”
How Trump backed away from promising to end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours
https://arab.news/7mn4j
How Trump backed away from promising to end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours
- He has changed his tone since becoming president again.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday suggested the U.S. might soon back away from negotiations altogether without more progress.
Iran says committed to diplomacy but acts in ‘self-defense’ against Israel
TEHRAN: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Thursday his country has remained committed to “diplomacy” but will continue to act in “self-defense” following Israel’s surprise attack nearly a week ago.
“Iran solely acts in self-defense. Even in the face of the most outrageous aggression against our people, Iran has so far only retaliated against the Israeli regime and not those who are aiding and abetting it,” said Araghchi in a post on X.
“With the exception of the illegitimate, genocidal and occupying Israeli regime, we remain committed to diplomacy,” he added.
Putin says NATO rearmament not a ‘threat’ to Russia
Saint Petersburg: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that NATO’s push to ramp up defense spending was not a “threat” to Russia, as Moscow had all the weapons it needed to defend itself.
“We do not consider any rearmament by NATO to be a threat to the Russian Federation, because we are self-sufficient in terms of ensuring our own security,” Putin told reporters, including AFP, at a televised press conference in Saint Petersburg.
He added that Russia was “constantly modernizing our armed forces and defensive capabilities.”
Trump rebuffs Putin offer to mediate Iran-Israel truce
- “He actually offered to help mediate. I said, ‘Do me a favor, mediate your own’,” Trump said
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump appeared Wednesday to rebuff Vladimir Putin’s offer to mediate in the Israel-Iran conflict, saying the Russian president should end his own war in Ukraine first.
“I spoke to him yesterday and... he actually offered to help mediate, I said ‘do me a favor, mediate your own,’” Trump told reporters as he unveiled a giant new flag pole at the White House.
“Let’s mediate Russia first, okay? I said, Vladimir, let’s mediate Russia first, you can worry about this later.”
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov disputed the timing that Trump gave for the call.
“He (Trump) was speaking figuratively. Life is so eventful right now that looking back a few days is like looking back to yesterday,” Peskov told Russian state news agency TASS.
Trump and the Kremlin both previously said on Saturday that the two leaders had spoken that day, with the US president saying Putin had called to wish him a happy 79th birthday.
Later on Wednesday, Trump said a change in Iran’s government “could happen,” and also indicated that negotiations could be on the horizon, without giving details.
“They want to meet, they want to come to the White House — I may do that,” Trump told reporters.
Trump meanwhile insisted that the stalled peace talks to end the Ukraine war were “going to work out” despite Moscow stepping up attacks.
The US president had vowed to end the war within 24 hours of taking office and made a major pivot toward Putin, but talks have so far made little progress.
Trump described the Ukraine war, sparked by Russia’s invasion of its pro-Western neighbor in 2022, as “so stupid.”
Leaked call between Thai PM and Cambodia ‘strongman’ stokes tensions
- Thai PM says leak shows ‘trust problem’ with Cambodian ex-premier
BANGKOK, Phnom Penh: Relations between Thailand and Cambodia suffered a major blow on Wednesday after a leak of a telephone conversation between Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and influential former Cambodian Premier Hun Sen that could further escalate tensions.
Ties between the two neighbors are at their worst in more than a decade after a row over border territory that has sparked fears of a military confrontation following a sharp rise in nationalist rhetoric and the mobilization of troops on both sides of their frontier.
The leaked June 15 phone call, which has been confirmed as authentic by both Hun Sen and Paetongtarn, shows the Thai premier telling Hun Sen, whom she called uncle, that she is under domestic pressure and urging him not to listen to “the opposite side” which includes a prominent Thai military commander at the border.
“He just want to look cool and saying things that are not useful to the nation, but in truth what we want is peace,” she told Hun Sen through a translator in the leaked audio clip, referring to the general.
Paetongtarn later told reporters her conversation with Hun Sen was part of a negotiation tactic and she has no problem with the Thai army.
“I won’t be talking privately with him (Hun Sen) anymore because there is a trust problem,” she said.
Hun Sen said the leak came from one of the 80 politicians he shared the audio recording with. Self-styled strongman Hun Sen was Cambodia’s premier for nearly four decades and has maintained a high public profile since handing over power in 2023 to his son, Prime Minister Hun Manet.
The two governments had until recently enjoyed warm ties, helped by the close relationship between Hun Sen and Thailand’s former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, Paetongtarn’s influential father. Both former leaders are still active in politics.
Fierce rhetoric
The leak could put that relationship in jeopardy and will add to speculation in Thailand that Paetongtarn and the powerful Thai military are at odds on how to respond to the border crisis with Cambodia.
Cambodia’s rhetoric has become more fierce in the past week, with Hun Sen blaming Thai “extremists” and the Thai army for stoking tensions, saying Paetongtarn’s government was “unable to control its military the way our country can.”
The billionaire Shinawatra family has a troubled history with the army, with two of its governments ousted by generals in coups in 2006 and 2014.
Lt. Gen. Boonsin Padklang, commander of Thailand’s Second Army Area overseeing the eastern border, on Wednesday told local media that Paetongtarn had called him to explain the leak.
“I don’t have any issue, I understand,” Boonsin said. The weeks-long standoff followed a brief border skirmish on May 28 that left a Cambodian soldier dead. Both countries have called for calm while vowing to defend their sovereignty over contested stretches of a 820-km (510-mile) land border, parts of which are undemarcated. Attempts to settle the issue have failed, with Cambodia on Sunday delivering on its vow to seek resolution at the International Court of Justice, the jurisdiction of which Thailand says it does not recognize.
On Wednesday, Cambodia’s defense ministry said Thailand had again violated its sovereignty with drone flights, trench digging and troop deployments, which Bangkok rejected.
Thousands of Cambodians joined a state-organized march in the capital Phnom Penh on Wednesday to support the government, shouting slogans, waving national flags and holding portraits of Hun Manet and Hun Sen.
“Cambodia’s land! We won’t take others’ land, we keep our land!” some chanted.
France plans European ‘initiative’ to end Iran-Israel conflict: presidency
- France, UK and Germany were involved in talks that led to a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers
- French president urged Israel to end strikes on targets in Iran not linked to nuclear activities or ballistic missiles
PARIS: France is planning along with European partners to suggest a negotiated solution to end the conflict between Iran and Israel, President Emmanuel Macron’s office said Wednesday.
At a national security council meeting, Macron ordered Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot to draw up in the coming days “an initiative with close European partners that would propose a demanding negotiated settlement to put an end to the conflict,” it said, without giving details on the nature of the plan.
Barrot has been in regular touch with his German and British counterparts since Israel launched massive air strikes against Iran on Friday.
All three countries were involved in talks that led to a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers to curb Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for relief from sanctions.
The United States withdrew from that accord during President Donald Trump’s first term.
Macron also urged Israel to end strikes on targets in Iran not linked to nuclear activities or ballistic missiles.
He voice “concern over the current escalation, with Israeli strikes increasingly hitting targets not linked to Iran’s nuclear or ballistic program, and a mounting number of civilian victims in Iran and Israel,” his office said.
He said it was “necessary to urgently end these military operations, which pose significant threats to regional security,” it added.
The French president also urged the foreign ministry to take measures to help French citizens leave Israel or Iran if they wished to do so, the Elysee added, without providing further details.
