US President Donald Trump broached the possibility of World War III on Thursday — telling reporters that the prolonged Russia-Ukraine conflict risked escalation into a global conflict. The POTUS had repeatedly insisted that he could end the invasion ‘within 24 hours’ upon becoming president. But efforts to negotiate a truce have proven elusive with multiple attempts falling flat over the past year. A 28-point Ukraine peace plan introduced by the Trump administration has also stalled amid backlash from Kyiv and its European allies.
“I’d like to see the killing stop. 25,000 people died last month, mostly soldiers, but some people also where bombs were dropped but for the most part, 25,000 soldiers died last month. I would love to see it stop. And we’re working very hard. Things like this end up in third world wars. And I said that the other day. I said, everybody keeps playing games like this. We will end up in a third world war and we don’t want to see that happen,” the US President said.
Trump ‘extremely frustrated’ by deadlock
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters earlier on Thursday that the President was “extremely frustrated” with both Russia and Ukraine and remained unwilling to engage in “meetings just for the sake of meeting”. She confirmed that the US remained heavily engaged in the peace efforts — with Trump holding talks with European leaders on Wednesday and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff leading direct discussions with both sides.
“The president is extremely frustrated with both sides of this war. He’s sick of meetings just for the sake of meeting. He doesn’t want any more talk. He wants action. He wants this war to come to an end,” Leavitt said.
‘Putin wants to end war’
US President Donald Trump said last week that the US delegation had a “very good” talk with Russian President on the Ukraine peace proposal, which gave the “impression” that Vladimir Putin “would like to end the war.” On Wednesday, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law held five-hour-long talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. The talks were centred on ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict that started in February 2022 .
(With inputs from agencies)
