Donald Trump has said a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine is "very close" as he criticised Volodymyr Zelenskyy for comments on Crimea he said were "harmful" to negotiations.
The Ukrainian president told a press conference earlier that any deal that forced Ukraine to recognise Russia's occupation of Crimea as legal would not be acceptable.
"There is nothing to talk about," Mr Zelenskyy said. "This violates our constitution. This is our territory, the territory of the people of Ukraine."
The US president took to Truth Social on Wednesday, local time, after seeing the comments. He demanded the Ukrainian leader do a deal and said such comments on Crimea, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014, were "inflammatory".
"It's inflammatory statements like Zelenskyy's that makes it so difficult to settle this war," Mr Trump said.
He added: "We are very close to a deal, but the man with 'no cards to play' should now, finally, get it done."
Speaking at the White House on Wednesday, Mr Trump also said he found it harder than expected to work with the Ukrainian leader.
"I think Russia is ready and a lot of people said Russia wanted to go for the whole thing. And I think we have a deal with Russia. We have to get a deal with Zelenskyy," Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
"I thought it might be easier to deal with Zelenskyy. So far, it's been harder … but, I think we have a deal with both.
"I hope they do it because I'm looking to save and, you know, we spent a lot of money, but this is about a lot of humanity," he said.
US officials cancel UK trip
It came as officials were left scrambling to get talks to end the three-year war back on track, after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio pulled out of a summit in London with US allies.
At the heart of Wednesday's talks was an attempt to establish what Kyiv can possibly accept after US special envoy Steve Witkoff presented proposals to a similar session in Paris last week. Three diplomats said those proposals appeared to demand more concessions from Ukraine than Russia.
But Mr Witkoff's proposals — which several sources said included recognising Russia's annexation of Crimea, beginning to lift US sanctions on the Kremlin and ruling out Ukraine's NATO membership — were unacceptable to Ukraine and other European nations.
Meanwhile, US Vice-President JD Vance repeated the threat that Washington could "walk away" if there was no progress on a deal soon.
Mr Vance said he was "optimistic" that negotiators could "get this thing over the finish line" but threw down the gauntlet.
"We've issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it's time for them to either say yes or for the United States to walk away from this process," he said.
"The only way to really stop the killing is for the armies to both put down their weapons, to freeze this thing and to get on with the business of actually building a better Russia and a better Ukraine."
He added that both sides would be required to give up territory they occupy.
"That means the Ukrainians and the Russians are both going to have to give up some of the territory they currently own. There's going to have to be some territorial swaps," he said.
It has deepened fears about the gap between the US and its European allies over how peace can be brokered.
Ukraine's deputy prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko said Kyiv was ready to negotiate with Russia "but not to surrender".
"There will be no agreement that hands Russia the stronger foundations it needs to regroup and return with greater violence," she said.
"A full ceasefire — on land, in the air, and at sea — is the necessary first step."
Mr Rubio's no-show meant a broader meeting between foreign ministers from Ukraine, Britain, France and Germany had to be cancelled, and negotiations were downgraded.
It also underlined the difficulty of closing the gaps between the various sides.
A source close to the discussions said the downgrading of the trip came after Ukraine drafted a paper for the Europeans on Tuesday, in which it said there would be no discussions on territorial issues until "a full and unconditional ceasefire".
The source said the apparent US nervousness could indicate that the Ukrainian position did not align with what Washington's representatives had agreed so far with the Russians.
Russian drone kills nine people
Meanwhile, a Russian drone hit a bus carrying workers in the Ukrainian city of Marhanets on Wednesday, killing nine people and injuring close to 50, Kyiv officials said.
Mr Zelenskyy described the attack as a "deliberate war crime".
He said the bus was transporting workers of a mining and processing plant.
"An ordinary bus. Clearly a civilian object, a civilian target," he said on X.
"It was an egregiously brutal attack — and an absolutely deliberate war crime," he added, calling for "an immediate, full, and unconditional ceasefire".
Russia fired a total of 134 attack drones at targets in Ukraine overnight, Kyiv's air force said. There was no immediate comment from Russia.
Marhanets, in south-central Ukraine, lies on the Ukrainian-controlled north bank of the Dnipro river's dried-up reservoir that separates the warring sides.
Mr Zelenskyy shared photographs of the aftermath of the attack on X, showing bodies lying in and next to the bus and being carried away by emergency workers.
He added most of the injured were women.
ABC/Reuters
