Donald Trump has once again told Vladimir Putin he has two weeks to prove he’s serious about ending the war in Ukraine — marking at least the third time he’s set the same deadline.
“I can’t tell you that, but I’ll let you know in about two weeks,” Trump said from the Oval Office when asked if he believed Putin actually wants peace.
“Within two weeks. We’re gonna find out whether or not [Putin is] tapping us along or not,” he told reporters. “And if he is, we’ll respond a little bit differently.”
Trump added that he’s holding off on new sanctions for now, saying he doesn’t want to “ruin a deal before it starts.”
But similar two-week warnings were issued on April 27 and May 19—with no clear results.
Putin’s camp hasn’t always taken Trump’s deadlines lightly. After a previous ultimatum, top Putin ally Dmitry Medvedev threatened the U.S. with “World War Three.” Still, Moscow later floated June 2 as a potential date for new peace talks in Istanbul.
Earlier this week, Trump warned that Putin was “playing with fire” by stalling on ceasefire talks while launching more drone and missile strikes.
Meanwhile, Russia is pushing forward militarily. A Belarusian official said Russia will deploy Oreshnik missile systems to Belarus by the end of 2025. “The locations have been finalised,” said Alexander Volfovich, head of Belarus’ Security Council, according to Russian state media outlet Tass.
Whether this latest deadline from Trump sticks—or gets quietly pushed again—remains to be seen.
