Russia and Ukraine are no closer to a cease-fire after Trump's pressure on Zelensky

U.S. president wants swift end to conflict, but both are digging in over region in Ukraine's east

- Laurence Norman, Matthew Luxmoore & Alexander Ward

Trump told Zelensky that Ukraine shouldn't expect to receive long-range Tomahawk missiles soon.

(AFP)

Russia and Ukraine signaled Monday they were far apart on a peace deal, days after President Trump's latest push to reach a settlement in a tense Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Trump was blunt with Zelensky during the meeting and at times expressed frustration, at one point refusing to look at the battlefield maps brought by the Ukrainians, according to U.S., European and Ukrainian officials.

Trump told Zelensky that his main priority was ending the war and made it clear he wasn't wedded to any specific territorial outcome, the officials said, in a message that echoed comments he made publicly after the meeting. Trump told Zelensky that Ukraine shouldn't expect to receive long-range Tomahawk missiles soon, according to two U.S. officials.

Trump acknowledged Monday that he has found it far more difficult to bridge the divide between Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin than he had expected. Trump spoke to Putin in a phone call Thursday before his meeting with Zelensky.

"It's turned out to be nasty, because you have two leaders that truly hate each other," Trump told reporters at the White House. "It makes it actually a little bit difficult."

Trump has turned his attention back to the Ukraine war after reaching a deal in the Middle East for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages after two years of war. He is planning to meet with Putin in Budapest as he renews his efforts to bring the conflict to an end.

Trump's travails thus far have left the conflict careening toward a fifth year with a growing death toll, increasingly powerful aerial strikes in Russia and Ukraine and a rising financial cost to Ukraine's Western allies.