Trump says US will 'take a pass' on Russia-Ukraine peace talks if parties make it difficult

Speaking at the Oval office on Friday, Trump said as quoted by media, "We're talking about here people dying. We're going to get it stopped, ideally. Now if, for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we're just going to say, 'You're foolish, you're fools, you're horrible people,' and we're going to just take a pass."

Trump's remarks came hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hinted at the US' possible exit from the peace talks if no deal could be achieved in the near future.

"We're not going to continue with this endeavour for weeks and months on end," Rubio said.

The remarks from the White House came as Russia continued with its strikes on Ukraine with the death of two more people and injuries to over 100 in the north eastern cities of Kharkiv and Sumy on Friday.

While Russia is placing a number of conditions for the ceasefire, Trump has blamed both the sides for the delay in sealing the peace deal.

Rubio's remark comes after he met European leaders over the ceasefire on Thursday.

"We need to determine very quickly now and I'm talking about a matter of days, whether or not this is doable," Rubio said on Friday and added, "If it's not going to happen, then we're just going to move on."

In response to the remarks passed by Rubio, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said "the negotiations taking place are quite difficult", BBC News reported.

"The Russian side is striving to reach a peace settlement in this conflict, to ensure its own interests, and is open to dialogue," he said.

Meanwhile, US Vice-President JD Vance, who met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Friday, said he was "optimistic" about the end of the war which started in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine.

"I want to update the Prime Minister on some of the negotiations between Russia, Ukraine, and also some of the things that have happened even in the past 24 hours," Vance said after meeting Meloni.

"Since there are the negotiations I won't prejudge them, but we do feel optimistic that we can hopefully bring this war, this very brutal war, to a close," added the US Vice-President.

Reports also claim the US and Ukraine have moved closer to sign the minerals deal.

The talks to strike the deal were previously disrupted over a public confrontation between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a press conference at the White House in February this year.

The deal is likely to be sealed by April 26.