Trump says if Ukraine peace deal not reached ‘quickly, it may not happen at all’

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Donald Trump warned Thursday that if a deal to end Russia's war against Ukraine is not reached quickly, "it may not happen at all," just hours after he said talks to end the hostilities are "very well advanced."

"I think we've made a lot of progress, and I think it's moving along pretty rapidly, and I want to thank all of the people that are here that have been working on it, and we'll let you know what happens," he told reporters in the East Room as he hosted UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. "If it doesn't happen quickly, it may not happen at all. And we want it for two reasons."

Trump said he is seeking to broker the deal out of both humanitarian concerns and also to cut down on costs to the US -- a repeated mantra of his presidency.

"I don't want to pay billions and billions and billions of dollars, nor does the prime minister or anybody else on a senseless war that should have never happened, and we're going to get it taken care of, but I think it's going to be a peace that's going to be long lasting," he said.

Starmer emphasized that any deal that is reached to end the war "can't be peace that rewards the aggressor or that gives encouragement to regimes like Iran."

"We agree history must be on the side of the peacemaker, not the invader. So the stakes, they couldn't be higher, and we're determined to work together to deliver a good deal," he said.

"We discussed a plan today to reach a peace that is tough and fair, that Ukraine will help shape, that is backed by strength, to stop Putin coming back for more. I'm working closely with other European leaders on this, and I'm clear that the UK is ready to put boots on the ground and planes in the air to support a deal, working together with our allies, because that is the only way that peace will last," he added.

Trump hosted Starmer one day before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is slated to visit the White House to meet with the US president and sign a critical mineral deal.

Trump said the pact "will make the United States a major partner in developing Ukraine's minerals and rare earths and oil and gasses," saying the US and Ukraine "have a great understanding."

He further said he has "a lot of respect for" Zelenskyy, appearing to end a major row with the Ukrainian leader highlighted by Trump's dubbing of Zelenskyy as a "dictator -- comments he walked back earlier Thursday.

"We're going to get along really well," said Trump. "We've given him a lot of equipment and a lot of money, but they have fought very bravely, no matter how you figure it. They have really fought. Somebody has to use that equipment, and they have been very brave in that sense."