‘I don’t care how it’s done’: Trump pressures Ukraine to break peace deal | Russia-Ukraine War

Amid escalating tensions with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US President Donald Trump has increased pressure on the Eastern European country to reach a deal that would end the war with Russia.

Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, Trump doubled down on accusing Ukraine’s president of delaying peace efforts that would end a years-long conflict.

“Zelensky has to want to resolve this war, and if he doesn’t, I think that will be a very bad thing,” Trump said of Russia having an “unlimited” number of people to send into combat.

Moments later, the US president referenced a contentious Oval Office meeting he held with Zelensky in February 2025, shortly after he returned to power.

Zelensky, Trump said, could then have made a “better deal.” “He’s going to have to want to make a deal, because I don’t think his people are going to put up with him any longer,” Trump told reporters.

On Tuesday, Ukraine’s president met with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and European leaders in Oslo, Norway, to discuss ending the war in Russia.

In a social media post after the meeting, Zelensky said, without providing details, that his country had “clear ideas on how to achieve peace.”

“We are united with our European partners in this effort, and we want the Americans to convey these ideas to the Russians,” Zelensky wrote. “One of the important ideas is to move to a possible trilateral meeting of leaders to address issues that only leaders can resolve.”

The Ukrainian leader added that Witkoff would travel to Russia on Wednesday, where peace negotiations are expected to continue.

“Let’s see what Putin has to say,” Zelensky said.

When asked if Russian President Vladimir Putin should meet with Zelensky, Trump said there was “tremendous” hatred between the two leaders.

“It’s hard for them to be in the same room,” Trump said. “I don’t care how it’s done.”

Starlink controversy

Trump’s remarks come as the White House continues to pressure Ukraine to force the country to reach a deal with Russia.

Last week, Ukrainian authorities reported slowdowns with Starshield, the military version of the Starlink satellite system, run by aerospace company SpaceX.

Ukraine relies on communications and intelligence technology to prevent Russian attacks.

It is not clear who ordered the restrictions limiting Ukraine’s access to Starshield. SpaceX CEO and Trump ally Elon Musk pointed the finger at the White House.

“Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US Government. Any limits on speed or use are decided by the US Military and ultimately by POTUS,” he wrote on October 14.

The Reuters news agency also reported that the order came from the White House, citing two U.S. officials and a Western official.

But a report in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday claimed that U.S. officials blamed Musk himself for the slowdown, saying the SpaceX CEO ordered it last week. Trump and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have both denied that the government directed the restrictions, with Hegseth placing the blame on SpaceX.

Building ties with Putin

Trump, meanwhile, has sought to ease historically tense relations between Russia and the United States.

In August 2025, Trump invited Putin to Alaska, the Russian leader’s first visit to American soil in a decade.

More recently, Trump said he was open to meeting with Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping this month, as part of a trilateral discussion on denuclearization.

Trump also announced this month that he had reached a deal to get diesel from Russia, marking a stunning reversal of years of U.S. pressure on Moscow’s economy.

The US president also lifted new economic restrictions that would have been imposed under the Lindsey Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, a bipartisan law he signed a month earlier, in honor of a late senator.

He would have imposed sanctions on Russian officials, banks and oil companies, as well as tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the decision Tuesday, saying the law allowed the waiver through a provision built into the legislation.

“The president chose to use a national security waiver to not immediately implement these sanctions and restrictions because he recognizes that these things need to be looked at in their totality,” Rubio said in an interview with Indian newspaper News18.

Rubio argued that Trump was engaged in a “balancing exercise” in deciding the extent of economic restrictions imposed by the United States and how they might impact the rest of the world.

“When you put that pressure on, sometimes it trickles down and negatively impacts other countries,” Rubio said.