Trump on Ukraine Talks: Time to Act

US President Donald Trump stated on Saturday that he believes negotiations for peace in Ukraine are progressing well, but emphasized that "there comes a time when you have to either take action or stop talking".

Source: Trump aboard Air Force One, as quoted by Reuters

Correction: In the initial report, Trump’s phrase "put up or shut up" was translated as "either put up with it or be quiet". It actually means that a person must back up their words with actions or stop speaking.

Details: The report notes that Trump made this comment to journalists a day after expressing frustration with Russia and urging it to "move forward" towards an agreement.

Trump’s direct quote: "I think the relationship between Ukraine and Russia could develop positively, and you’ll find out about that very soon".

"There comes a time when you have to either take action or be quiet, and we’ll see what happens, but I think things are going well".

Details: On Friday, Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff held discussions with Russian leader Vladimir Putin about the "aspects of the Ukrainian settlement".

The negotiations occurred while the US-Russian dialogue aimed at achieving a ceasefire agreement seems to have hit a stalemate due to disagreements over the terms for a complete cessation of hostilities.

Word for word from Reuters: "Trump showed signs of losing patience and spoke about imposing secondary sanctions on countries buying Russian oil if he feels Moscow is stalling on an agreement".

Background: The Cambridge Dictionary explains the idiom used by Trump, "put up or shut up". When someone is told to "put up or shut up", it means they should either take steps to do what they have been talking about or stop talking about it.

What preceded: Trump urged the Russian Federation to take steps to end its full-scale war against Ukraine.

Background:

The US President, who promised to swiftly end the fighting in Ukraine, has recently been increasingly vocal about his dissatisfaction with Moscow's actions.

He notably expressed that he was "angry" after Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin questioned the legitimacy of Volodymyr Zelensky, and was outraged by Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities.

At the same time, media reports indicated that senior officials in Trump’s administration began to acknowledge that the US may not achieve a peace agreement regarding Ukraine in the coming months due to additional conditions set by the Russian side during negotiations.