President Trump said the United States would impose sanctions on Russia if it did not accept an extended cease-fire in its war with Ukraine, writing on social media after a phone call late Thursday with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.
The remark was another swivel by the administration closer to Ukraine’s positions in cease-fire talks, after two months of concessions to Russia including broadening diplomatic relations and voting against a U.N. resolution condemning Moscow for the war.
During talks in Saudi Arabia in March, the Trump administration had proposed a 30-day truce to allow for peace negotiations. Ukraine accepted the idea but Russia has pushed instead for negotiating terms for a settlement before accepting a cease-fire.
After a meeting in Vatican City with Mr. Zelensky on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral last month. Mr. Trump threatened Russia with sanctions if it drew out of the negotiations. But his social media post after his call with Mr. Zelensky was his clearest statement yet that he was linking additional U.S. sanctions on Russia to its acceptance of a 30-day truce for negotiations.
“If the ceasefire is not respected, the U.S. and its partners will impose further sanctions,” Mr. Trump wrote in the post, made on Truth Social, his social networking site.
The United States, Mr. Trump wrote, “calls for, ideally, a 30-day unconditional ceasefire.”.
Mr. Zelensky’s office published a readout of the call with Mr. Trump saying the two leaders had congratulated one another on the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. It also said that on the call, “President Trump confirmed that he wants to see this war ended and is ready to help.”
The call marked May 8, commemorated in both Ukraine and the United States as the day World War II ended in Europe. Russia celebrated the holiday on May 9, with a demonstration of military might in Moscow.
Mr. Zelensky quickly welcomed Mr. Trump’s endorsement of a 30-day cease-fire, posting on X early Friday that, “Ukraine is ready for a full ceasefire starting right now, from this very moment.”
Also on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance, in an interview with Fox News, said that if the United States does withdraw from talks the blame could lie with Russia for not negotiating in “good faith.”
Ukraine had rejected a Russian offer of a three-day truce around the Victory Day holiday and parade in Moscow, which was attended by two dozen world leaders, including President Xi Jinping of China. Mr. Zelensky said that the Russian proposal allowed too little time to negotiate a peace agreement and that it was offered only to put guests at the parade at ease.
In the days before the parade, both Russia and Ukraine launched volleys of exploding drones toward the countries’ capitals, disrupting flights near Moscow, and killing two people and starting fires in Kyiv.
Those attacks halted after the start of Russia’s proposed short-term truce but fighting along the front line in eastern Ukraine carried on. Ukraine’s military on Friday morning reported 193 combat engagements along the about 700-mile front over the past 24 hours.
As Mr. Putin held his Victory Day parade in Moscow on Friday, foreign ministers from 15 European nations gathered in Lviv, Ukraine, to announce the formation of a tribunal to hold Russian leaders to account for the crime of aggression against Ukraine in the current war.
It will take some time to set up the tribunal, European officials said, but it is expected to focus on the actions of a small number of high-ranking and well-protected people, including Mr. Putin and top ministers. It is unlikely that any of them will be brought before the court, and the legal process will likely play out over many years.
European officials said Friday’s announcement was timed to coincide with the Russian celebration of Victory Day, to send a message that most European nations stand by Kyiv.
Also on Friday, Ukraine’s domestic intelligence agency announced the arrest of members of a Hungarian spy ring in western Ukraine, leveling a rare accusation of spying against a country other than Russia. The mission of the Hungarian spies, Ukrainian officials said, was in part to gather information on military defenses in the western Ukrainian region of Zakarpattia.
In a move sure to enrage Ukrainians, Russian authorities on Friday unveiled a bust of Stalin, adorned with red carnations, as part of Victory Day celebrations in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol. A plaque by the bust commemorated Stalin’s leadership in World War II. Stalin is a reviled figure in Ukraine for the 1930s famine known as the Holodomor that killed at least three million people, and in Ukraine and multiple other countries is considered a genocide.
Andrew E. Kramer is the Kyiv bureau chief for The Times, who has been covering the war in Ukraine since 2014.
Marc Santora has been reporting from Ukraine since the beginning of the war with Russia. He was previously based in London as an international news editor focused on breaking news events and earlier the bureau chief for East and Central Europe, based in Warsaw. He has also reported extensively from Iraq and Africa.
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