US rift with Ukraine grows as Europe seeks ceasefire

Zelenskyy's comments on truce being 'far away' leave Trump outraged

- Andrew Roth Washington Jon Henley Paris Dan Sabbagh

The rift between Washington and Kyiv over a potential ceasefire in the war with Russia deepened yesterday as Donald Trump expressed new outrage at Volodymyr Zelenskyy for saying that the end of the war could be "very, very far away".

Trump posted a link on social media to an Associated Press story outlining Zelenskyy's comments and said: "This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not put up with it for much longer!"

"This guy doesn't want there to be peace as long as he has America's backing and, Europe, in the meeting they had with Zelenskyy, stated they cannot do the job without the US," Trump continued.

"Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia," he said. "What are they thinking?"

The comments followed a French proposal for a partial one-month truce between Russia and Ukraine as European efforts to bolster support for Kyiv accelerated in the face of uncertain US backing.

The French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said yesterday that "such a truce - on air, sea and energy infrastructure - would allow us to determine whether Vladimir Putin is acting in good faith" and gauge his attitude to "real peace negotiations".

A day after European leaders rallied around Ukraine at a summit in London, Barrot added: "Never has the risk of a war in Europe, in the EU, been so high... The threat keeps getting closer to us, the frontline keeps getting closer to us."

The Ukraine president had said he believed a peace with Russia was far off in an interview in which he also expressed optimism about Ukraine's partnership with the US, saying: "I think our relationship (with the US) will continue, because it's more than an occasional relationship."

Asked to comment about the outlines of a new European initiative to end the war, Zelenskyy said: "We are talking about the first steps today.