Trump blames Zelensky as Ukraine peace talks stumble

A meeting Wednesday in London that was billed as a make-or-break moment for talks fizzled after Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff abruptly canceled plans to attend. That followed Zelensky’s pushback against a U.S. proposal for a peace deal, that Washington legally recognize Russian sovereignty over the Crimea peninsula, which Russia has occupied since 2014.

Trump criticized Zelensky for his comments, pointing out that Ukraine itself wasn’t being asked to recognize Crimea as Russian. “It’s inflammatory statements like Zelenskyy’s that makes it so difficult to settle this War," he wrote on social media, adding that the Ukrainian leader had to choose peace now or risk losing his entire country in three years’ time.

Nearly a hundred days into Trump’s tenure, a peace deal has proven elusive. The U.S. presented a framework to Ukraine and European negotiators last week in Paris, warning that the U.S. could walk away if a deal wasn’t reached within days. But Ukraine sees the prospective deal as favorable to Russia, leading to growing impatience in the Trump administration.

Ukrainian officials said they are worried that Trump, who has repeatedly said he doesn’t like Zelensky, might blame Kyiv for a breakdown in talks and refuse to provide further military aid. They have repeatedly reminded their U.S. counterparts that Ukraine agreed to stop fighting for 30 days while Russia hadn’t.

“The path to peace is not easy, but Ukraine has been and remains committed to peace efforts," Zelensky adviser Andriy Yermak said Wednesday after arriving in London.

The growing realization that all sides remain far apart on key issues stands in contrast to Trump’s claim that he could broker a pact within 24 hours. He has recently vented to aides that the negotiations were harder to conclude than he hoped, U.S. officials said, directing most of his anger at Zelensky for not readily agreeing to the most recent U.S. proposal.

The peace framework presented last week would allow Russia to keep most of the territory it captured over the last decade of war with Ukraine in return for freezing the conflict along current lines. The U.S. would legally recognize Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and Ukraine would have to give up on aspirations to join NATO.

The document makes no explicit statement about future U.S. military support for Ukraine in the event that Russia invades again, officials say, but leaves open the possibility that other European forces could support Kyiv. It doesn’t put limits on the size of Ukraine’s armed forces, something Russia had wanted.

The offer, made in a two-page document, was handed to the Ukrainians at a meeting in Paris last week, according to officials. This week’s discussions in London came to be framed as a take-or-leave-it moment, offering Ukraine a near-final opportunity to accept U.S.-imposed terms.

But the Ukrainians pushed back on a range of issues. They said they wanted a cease-fire in place before discussing a final deal, rejected legally handing over Crimea and argued the deal would simply allow Russia to re-invade at a later date unless the U.S. pledged to help defend Ukraine, even indirectly. “There will be no agreement that hands Russia the stronger foundations it needs to regroup and return with greater violence," Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said Wednesday after details of the proposal were leaked.

Most analysts contend that the current terms are a far better deal for Russia than Ukraine. “Without any real pressure, the Russians are not budging and playing for time, and they are getting what they want: a U.S. that is so frustrated with the negotiations that they seem to just want Ukraine to say yes to accepting Russia’s maximalist demands," said Alina Polyakova, president and CEO of the Center for European Policy Analysis, a Washington think tank. “If the U.S. gives up and moves on, the Russians would consider this a win."

Ukrainian infantry trained in March in eastern Ukraine.

Even before Wednesday’s talks, the French and Germans announced they wouldn’t send their foreign ministers to the meeting, leading to questions within the Trump administration about whether the conversation rose to Rubio’s level. Ukraine-Russia talks also hadn’t advanced far enough since a meeting in Paris last week, U.S. and European officials said, as Russia’s willingness to earnestly negotiate remained an open question.

Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg was the senior U.S. official at the talks. He met with Ukrainian officials and U.K. Defense chief John Healey.

Witkoff is due to visit Moscow on Friday to continue talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, their fourth meeting. Both Trump and Zelensky are expected to travel to Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis and could potentially meet there.

Rubio initially raised expectations for the London talks after departing the Paris gathering, noting the goal was to get a deal in a matter of days, not weeks. But in an interview with The Free Press published Wednesday, Rubio suggested the warring parties remained divided and didn’t expect a deal to be completed by the week’s end.

“They may be too far apart, but I hope not," he said. “But ultimately, it’s not up to us. It’s up to Russia and it’s up to Ukraine. They have to make the decision that they’re willing to move closer to one another, and we need to start to see progress."

For Ukraine, the proposed peace deal is an improvement on what Trump officials floated earlier in the year, says Jonathan Eyal, associate director at the Royal United Services Institute, a British think tank. The U.S. proposal doesn’t offer to cap the size of the Ukrainian military or ban allies from offering military assistance to Kyiv, two Kremlin demands. As such, the deal on the table, while highly favorable to Russia, “is not a complete abandonment of Ukraine," he says.

Much depends on the military support the U.S. can offer not only Ukraine but its European allies. British and French officials are working on a plan to create a coalition force that could be placed inside Ukraine after a cease-fire is in place to further deter Russia from re-invading. However, they will only put boots on the ground if the U.S. pledges to offer logistical and air support if Russia were to re-start the war. So far the U.S. hasn’t offered such help. Trump has argued that a minerals deal would put U.S. investment inside Ukraine and act as a de-facto security guarantee.

Write to Alexander Ward at alex.ward@wsj.com and Max Colchester at Max.Colchester@wsj.com