Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump ‘growing incredibly impatient’ with Putin over war, says Vance – UK Times

Donald Trump has made a unique and sudden intellectual contribution to the future of Ukraine and European defence, shifting the debate away from an assumption that Kyiv must negotiate or die, to a belief that it could destroy the Kremlin’s army.

This remarkable volte-face is being seized upon in Europe with as much vigour as was evident in the effort to look away when Trump backed Vladimir Putin over Ukraine, or when he threatened to invade Denmark and Canada.

Trump says all kinds of stuff. Much of it, like his attacks on the UK after he was feted by its king, are politely ignored by a government keen to keep him onside – or at least not drive him further towards the dark side.

“Putin will keep driving the war forward, wider and deeper,” Mr Zelensky said. “We told you before: Ukraine is only the first. Now Russian drones are already flying across Europe, and Russian operations are already spreading across countries.

“Putin wants to continue this war by expanding it, and no one can feel safe right now.”

Volodymyr Zelensky has echoed UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres in calling for global rules on how AI can be used in weapons, stressing that “this is just as urgent as preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.

“Stopping Putin now is cheaper than trying to protect every port and airport and every ship from drone attacks, and having to build underground schools and health centres as Ukraine has been forced to do to protect its citizens,” he said.

“Stopping Russia now is cheaper than wondering who will be the first to create a simple drone carrying a nuclear warhead.”

“So we must use everything we have together to force the aggressor to stop, and only then do we have a real chance that this arms race will not end in catastrophe for all of us,” the Ukrainian leader said.

Donald Trump is growing impatient with Russia over its refusal to work towards an end to the war in Ukraine, US vice president JD Vance said.

“I believe the president is growing incredibly impatient with the Russians right now because he doesn’t feel like they’re putting enough on the table to end the war,” Vance said, speaking to reporters in North Carolina.

Trump’s second-in-command said their administration has engaged “in incredibly good faith negotiations with both the Russians and Ukrainians” but Moscow refuses to do the same.

“(Trump) wants this war to end, and he’s doing everything that he can to stop it. But, look, if the Russians refuse to negotiate in good faith, I think it’s going to be very, very bad for their country. That’s what the president made clear,” he said.

“Number two, the president has grown very confident that this war is bad for Russia. You hear me say this all the time. You hear the president say this all the time. The war is bad for Russia. It’s bad for Ukraine. It’s bad for America. We want the killing to stop. That remains the president’s position,” Vance said.

The U-turn from Trump this week regarding Ukraine’s fortunes in its fight against Russia is not a shift in position, but “an acknowledgment of the reality on the ground”, Vance said.

Volodymyr Zelensky said the world is in “the most destructive arms race in human history” as he addressed the world leaders gathered at the UN General Assembly.

The Ukrainian war-time president urged the international community to act against Russia now, asserting that Vladimir Putin wants to expand his war in Europe.

In a bleak view of today’s world, he told the annual high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly that weak international institutions including the United Nations haven’t been able to stop wars in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan and elsewhere, and international law can’t help nations survive.

“Weapons decide who survives,” the Ukrainian leader said. “There are no security guarantees except friends and weapons.”

If Putin isn’t stopped now, Zelensky warned the assembly that he will keep driving the war forward, “wider and deeper.”

“Ukraine is only the first, and now Russian drones are already flying across Europe, and Russian operations are already spreading across countries,” he said.

Zelensky spoke from the podium of the vast assembly chamber a day after he met with president Donald Trump, who expressed support for Ukraine’s efforts and criticised Russia.

Ukraine’s briefings of battlefield updates to the top US officials coordinating with Kyiv on the war could have made Donald Trump change his mind, officials said.

The US president has spent the recent days with his officials who are working to push for a stronger stance backing Ukraine, including Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg and new ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz, reported the Wall Street Journal.

“They updated Trump on current battlefield conditions, according to two people familiar with the situation, noting that Russia has made little progress in recent years,” the report said, citing officials.

This has led to Trump making a rhetorical shift and not a policy shift on the war in Ukraine, where he was previously pushing Kyiv to make some concessions.

Trump was also informed about Ukraine’s planned offensive which will need US intelligence support, the officials aware of the development said.