Trump says Putin may not want to make a deal on Ukraine

US President Donald Trump said on Aug 19 he hoped Russia's Vladimir Putin would move forward on ending the war in Ukraine, but conceded that the Kremlin leader may not want to make a deal at all, adding this would create a "rough situation" for Mr Putin.

- Bhagyashree Garekar

WASHINGTON/LONDON/KYIV -

In an interview with Fox News' Fox & Friends programme, Mr Trump said he expected that Mr Putin's course of action would become clear in the next few weeks.

Mr Trump also again ruled out American boots on the ground in Ukraine, and gave no specifics about the security guarantees he has previously said Washington could offer Kyiv under any postwar settlement.

"I don't think it is going to be a problem (reaching a peace deal), to be honest with you. I think Putin is tired of it. I think they are all tired of it, but you never know," he said.

"We are going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks... It is possible that he doesn't want to make a deal," said Mr Trump, who has previously threatened more sanctions on Russia and nations that buy its oil if Mr Putin does not make peace.

Ukraine and its European allies have been buoyed by Mr Trump's promise of security guarantees to help end the war during an extraordinary summit on Aug 18, but face many unanswered questions, including how willing Russia will be to play ball.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the Aug 18 talks at the White House with the US President as a "major step forward" towards ending Europe's deadliest conflict in 80 years and towards setting up a trilateral meeting with Mr Putin and Mr Trump in the coming weeks.

Mr Zelensky added that the guarantees would be "formalised on paper within the next week to 10 days", and said Ukraine offered to buy about US$90 billion (S$115.5 billion) worth of US weapons.