Trump commented on the issue of the deadline for a cease-fire in Ukraine

US President Donald Trump, responding to a question about whether he had set a deadline for Russia, said that the conflict in Ukraine could have been prevented. He announced this on April 14 in an interview broadcast by the C-SPAN TV channel.

"This <conflict> should never have been allowed," Trump said.

He also clarified that if former US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had been competent, the conflict could have been avoided.

The stage of the concept: The Russian Federation and the United States are negotiating on Ukraine on a bilateral basis

Why is it unlikely to achieve a ceasefire by Easter and when is a meeting between Putin and Trump possible?

Earlier in the day, Stephen Witkoff, the US president's special envoy for the Middle East, said that the United States was moving forward to conclude a deal with Russia to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. The special envoy of the US president also noted that there is an opportunity to rebuild relations with Russia through commercial partnership.

The meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Witkoff took place in St. Petersburg on April 11. It was clarified that the topic of the negotiations was aspects of the Ukrainian settlement. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in turn, said before the start of the talks that the meeting between Putin and Witkoff was a good opportunity to convey to Trump the point of view of the Russian side.