‘I don’t care how it’s done’: Trump pressures Ukraine to cut peace deal

The US president’s remarks come amid a deepening feud with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

US President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 20, 2026 [Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo]

Amid escalating tensions with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, United States President Donald Trump has increased pressure on the Eastern European country to make a deal that would end the war with Russia.

Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, Trump doubled down on his efforts to blame the Ukrainian president for holding up peace efforts that would bring the years-long conflict to a close.

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“Zelenskyy has to want to settle this war, and if he doesn’t, I think it’s going to be a very bad thing,” Trump said as he talked about Russia having an “unlimited” supply of people to send in the fight.

Moments later, the US president referenced a contentious Oval Office meeting he held with Zelenskyy in February 2025, shortly after returning to power.

Zelenskyy, Trump said, could have made a “better deal” then. “He’s going to have to want to make a deal, because I don’t think his people are going to stand for it any longer,” Trump told reporters.

On Tuesday, the Ukrainian president met US special envoy Steve Witkoff and European leaders in Oslo, Norway, to discuss ending Russia’s war.

In a post on social media after the meeting concluded, Zelenskyy said, without providing specifics, that his country has “some clear ideas on how to get to peace”.

“We are united with our European partners in this effort, and we want the Americans to take these ideas to the Russians,” Zelenskyy wrote. “One of the important ideas is to move to a potential trilateral meeting of the leaders to address the issues that only the leaders can do.”

The Ukrainian leader added that Witkoff would head to Russia on Wednesday, where peace discussions are expected to continue.

“Let’s see what Putin has to say,” Zelenskyy said.

When asked whether Russian President Vladimir Putin should meet Zelenskyy, Trump said there was “tremendous” hatred between the two leaders.

“It’s hard for them to be in the same room,” Trump said. “I don’t care how it’s done.”

Starlink controversy

Trump’s remarks come as the White House continues to squeeze Ukraine in order to force the country to cut a deal with Russia.

Last week, Ukrainian officials reported slowdowns with Starshield, the military-grade version of the Starlink satellite system, run by the aerospace company SpaceX.

Ukraine relies on the technology for communications and intelligence to prevent Russian attacks.

It is unclear who ordered restrictions that limit Ukraine’s access to Starshield. SpaceX CEO and Trump ally Elon Musk pointed a finger at the White House.

“Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS,” he wrote on October 14.

The news agency Reuters also reported that the order came from inside the White House, citing two US officials and a Western official.

But a report in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday claimed US officials had blamed Musk himself for the slowdown, saying the SpaceX CEO ordered it last week. Trump and US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth have both denied that the government directed the restrictions, with Hegseth pushing responsibility towards SpaceX.

Building ties with Putin

Trump, meanwhile, has sought to ease the historically tense relations between Russia and the US.

In August 2025, Trump invited Putin to Alaska, the Russian leader’s first visit to US soil in a decade.

More recently, Trump has expressed openness this month to meeting with Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, as part of a trilateral discussion on denuclearisation.

Trump also announced this month that he struck a deal to obtain diesel from Russia, marking a stunning reversal of years of US pressure on Moscow’s economy.

The US president also waived new economic restrictions that would have been imposed under the Lindsey Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, a bipartisan law he signed one month earlier, in honour of a late senator.

It would have imposed sanctions on Russian officials, banks and tankers, as well as tariffs on countries that purchase Russian oil.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the decision on Tuesday, saying the law allowed the waiver through a provision embedded in the legislation.

“The president chose to use a national security waiver to not immediately implement those [sanctions and restrictions], because he recognises that these things have to be looked at in their totality,” Rubio said in an interview with India’s News18.

Rubio argued that Trump was engaged in a “balancing act” in deciding the extent of US-imposed economic restrictions and how they could impact the rest of the world.

“When you do that pressure, sometimes it spills over and has a negative impact on other countries,” Rubio said.

美国总统发表上述言论之际，正值他与乌克兰总统泽连斯基的矛盾日益加深之时。

2026年10月20日，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在华盛顿特区白宫椭圆形办公室发表讲话。[杰奎琳·马丁/美联社照片]

在与乌克兰领导人弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基的紧张局势不断升级之际，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普加大了对这个东欧国家的压力，要求其达成一项能够结束与俄罗斯战争的协议。

周二在白宫发表讲话时，特朗普加倍指责乌克兰总统阻碍了旨在结束这场持续多年的冲突的和平努力。

列表 1/3：鲁比奥为何要访问位于印度的信实集团炼油厂，该炼油厂是世界上最大的炼油厂。

名单2/3：泽连斯基将与维特科夫和欧洲人就俄乌战争举行会谈

列表 3/3：拉夫罗夫支持德黑兰，但俄罗斯是否也从美伊危机中获益？

“泽连斯基必须想结束这场战争，如果他不想，我认为那将是一件非常糟糕的事情，”特朗普在谈到俄罗斯有“无限”的人员可以派往战场时说道。

片刻之后，美国总统提到了他在 2025 年 2 月重返政坛后不久与泽连斯基在椭圆形办公室举行的一次充满争议的会晤。

特朗普说，泽连斯基当时本可以达成“更好的协议”。特朗普告诉记者：“他必须想达成协议，因为我认为他的人不会再容忍这种情况了。”

周二，乌克兰总统在挪威奥斯陆会见了美国特使史蒂夫·威特科夫和欧洲领导人，讨论结束俄罗斯发动的战争。

会后，泽连斯基在社交媒体上发帖称，他的国家“对如何实现和平有一些明确的想法”，但他没有提供具体细节。

泽连斯基写道：“我们与欧洲伙伴在这项努力上团结一致，我们希望美国人将这些想法带给俄罗斯人。其中一个重要的想法是推动举行三方领导人会晤，以解决只有领导人才能解决的问题。”

乌克兰领导人补充说，维特科夫将于周三前往俄罗斯，预计和平谈判将在那里继续进行。

“让我们看看普京会说什么，”泽连斯基说。

当被问及俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京是否应该与泽连斯基会面时，特朗普表示，两位领导人之间存在“巨大的”仇恨。

“他们很难待在同一个房间里，”特朗普说。“我不在乎用什么方法。”

星链争议

特朗普发表这番言论之际，白宫正继续向乌克兰施压，迫使该国与俄罗斯达成协议。

上周，乌克兰官员报告称，由航天公司 SpaceX 运营的 Starlink 卫星系统的军用版本 Starshield 出现了运行速度放缓的情况。

乌克兰依靠通信和情报技术来阻止俄罗斯的攻击。

目前尚不清楚是谁下令限制乌克兰使用“星盾”导弹系统。SpaceX首席执行官、特朗普盟友埃隆·马斯克将矛头指向了白宫。

“星盾系统由美国政府拥有和控制。任何速度或使用限制均由美国军方决定，并最终由美国总统决定，”他在10月14日写道。

路透社也报道称，该命令来自白宫内部，并援引了两名美国官员和一名西方官员的话。

但《华尔街日报》周二的一篇报道称，美国官员将此次放缓任务的责任归咎于马斯克本人，称这位SpaceX首席执行官上周下令实施了该措施。特朗普和美国国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯均否认政府下令实施这些限制，赫格塞斯更是将责任推给了SpaceX。

与普京建立联系

与此同时，特朗普一直试图缓和俄罗斯和美国之间历史上紧张的关系。

2025年8月，特朗普邀请普京访问阿拉斯加，这是这位俄罗斯领导人十年来首次访问美国领土。

最近，特朗普本月表示愿意与普京和中国国家主席习近平会面，作为关于无核化的三方会谈的一部分。

特朗普本月还宣布，他已达成协议从俄罗斯获取柴油，这标志着美国多年来对莫斯科经济施压的惊人逆转。

美国总统还豁免了根据《林赛·格雷厄姆制裁俄罗斯和伊朗法案》实施的新经济限制。该法案是一项两党共同支持的法案，由他一个月前签署，以纪念一位已故参议员。

该法案本将对俄罗斯官员、银行和油轮实施制裁，并对购买俄罗斯石油的国家征收关税。

美国国务卿马可·卢比奥周二为这一决定辩护，称法律通过立法中嵌入的一项条款允许豁免。

鲁比奥在接受印度 News18 采访时表示：“总统选择利用国家安全豁免权，不立即实施这些（制裁和限制），因为他认识到这些事情必须从整体上看待。”

鲁比奥认为，特朗普在决定美国实施的经济限制的程度以及这些限制可能对世界其他地区产生的影响时，是在进行一种“权衡”。

“当你施加这种压力时，有时会产生溢出效应，对其他国家造成负面影响，”鲁比奥说。