US President Donald Trump said he is not going "to be wasting my time” by meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin if the Kremlin leader is not ready to make a deal to end his war on Ukraine.
"You have to know that we're going to make a deal. I'm not going to be wasting my time," Trump told reporters on Air Force One during a stop in Doha en route to Malaysia, where he kicks off an Asia trip on October 26.
"I've always had a great relationship with Vladimir Putin, but this has been very disappointing. I thought this would have gotten done before peace in the Middle East," he added.
Trump spoke to Putin last week and said he planned to meet him in Budapest within the next few weeks. However, the US president later canceled the meeting, although he said it could take place at another time.
Will There Be Even More Sanctions?
Meanwhile, Reuters quoted a US official and another person familiar with the matter as saying Trump's administration has prepared an additional series of sanctions against Russia’s economy that could be imposed if Putin refuses to reach a peace deal.
However, Reuters quoted an unidentified senior US official as saying Trump would prefer to have European nations make the next big move against the Kremlin -- either in the form of additional sanctions or tariffs.
The United States sent shockwaves across global energy markets on October 22 when it said it was sanctioning state-controlled Rosneft and privately owned LUKoil -- Russia’s two largest oil companies, whose exports go a long way toward filling the Kremlin’s coffers used to fund the war.
A day later, the European Union targeted Rosneft and Gazpromneft, another major oil company that is a subsidiary of state-controlled gas giant Gazprom.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on October 26 described the sanctions as an "unfriendly step" and said they "have indeed damaged the prospects of resuscitating our relations" with Washington.
Speaking on state-controlled Rossiya 1 TV, Peskov added that there were no preconditions for a summit between Putin and Trump, blaming Ukraine and Europe for halting the process.
"Trump understands that there are currently no reasons to believe that any progress could be made in the peaceful settlement in the near future," he said, adding that talks laying the groundwork for a summit continue.
"Presidents cannot meet for the sake of meeting, they cannot just waste their time, and they are open about that. That's why they instructed [Russian Foreign Minister Sergei] Lavrov and [U.S. Secretary of State Marco] Rubio to prepare this process. The process is complicated," he said.
Observers are watching closely to gauge reactions by India and China -- the two biggest buyers of Russian oil exports. China is one of Moscow’s top allies and trading partners, sourcing much of its Russian energy via Siberian pipelines.
New Delhi has so far resisted US pressure to curtail its use of Russian energy, and Trump has lashed out at India on the issue, imposing punitive tariffs and threatening more actions.
Trump’s latest remarks appear to throw cold water over comments by Putin's special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, Kirill Dmitriev, who told CNN on October 24 that he believes the United States, Ukraine, and Russia have made strong progress toward ending the war in Ukraine.
"I believe Russia and the US and Ukraine are actually quite close to a diplomatic solution,” Dmitriev said, although he did not explain in detail why he believes a diplomatic solution is close. The public positions of Russia and Ukraine remain far apart on key issues including territory and security guarantees.
Dmitriev was in the United States to meet with US officials. No details of the talks were immediately available, although Reuters quoted a source as saying the discussions were to resume on October 26.
Trump is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea on the final day of his regional trip that is expected to focus mainly on trade.
He also stopped in Malaysia, where he presided over an agreement between Thailand and Cambodia on their border conflict. The US president is also expected to visit Japan on the trip.
Russian Strikes Hit Kyiv, Other Regions
In the meantime, Ukraine continues to endure nearly nightly attacks by Russian drones and missiles that hit apartment buildings and civilian infrastructure in Kyiv and other major cities far from the front line.
Asked about an attack this week that hit a kindergarten in Kharkiv, Putin envoy Dmitriev said the Russian military is not targeting kindergartens but that the military should be asked about this specific situation.
"I’m not a military guy," he said. "I’m just working to have dialogue and make sure that the conflict is ended as soon as possible."
Early on October 26, Ukrainian officials said an overnight attack by Russian drones on a high-rise building in Kyiv killed three people and injured at least 33 people, including seven children.
As RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service spoke with local residents at the scene of the attack, one woman said her neighbors were among those killed.
"The smoke was overwhelming. We were breathing through wet towels.... I thought we were doomed," she said, adding that her neighbors had suffocated while hiding from the attack in the bathroom.
Ukrainian officials have also reported Russian strikes causing damage to civilian and energy infrastructure in a number of other regions, including Kharkiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that in the past week, Russia has carried out "thousands" of strikes using various types of weapons.
Zelenskyy claimed Russia has used "nearly 1,200 attack drones, more than 1,360 guided aerial bombs, and over 50 missiles of various types."
