Senior Trump administration officials have discussed in recent days the likelihood that the U.S. will be unable to secure a Ukraine peace deal in the next few months and are drawing up new plans to pressure both Kyiv and Moscow,

US President Donald Trump accused the Ukrainian president of “trying to back out” of the minerals deal expected to be agreed between the two countries as early as this week, adding that Volodymyr Zelensky would face “big problems” if he didn’t sign an agreement.

The Russian leader recently said that Zelenskyy lacks the legitimacy to sign a peace deal and suggested that Ukraine needed external governance.

Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev discusses his meeting with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in Washington, D.C. on 'Special Report.'

The absence of Russia on the president’s new list of countries that he’ll hit with steep tariffs did not go unnoticed on social media. Critics were quick to accuse Trump of kowtowing to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom Trump has for years expressed his admiration of.

The White House has defended its decision to not include Russia on its expansive list of countries that will face major new tariffs starting today. US sanctions on Moscow already “preclude any meaningful trade”,

Kirill Dmitriev, an economic envoy for Russian President Vladimir Putin, is expected to meet US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who has become a key player in talks about the conflict, at the White House,

Vladimir Putin’sRussia was one of the only countries in the world not to be slapped with additional tariffs from Donald Trump last night. The US president announced a series of “reciprocal” taxes on international imports into America which he said would boost the US economy.