Opinion | Wasn’t Trump Supposed to Have Solved the War in Ukraine by Now?

Given the head-spinning pace of President Trump’s proclamations and executive orders, it is not surprising that yesterday’s shock is continually being buried under today’s awe. Take Ukraine, for example. Even before coming back to the White House, Trump said he wanted a quick end to the war, starting with a 30-day cease-fire.

There arose a great flurry of activity, of which the highlights include the dramatic ouster of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky from the White House for insufficient deference, the deal Zelensky couldn’t refuse to give the United States considerable control over Ukrainian minerals, a very long and seemingly friendly phone call between Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin and meetings in Saudi Arabia to hammer out the fighting pause. At last report, Russia nixed a 30-day cease-fire, and instead the two sides agreed only to stop attacks on each other’s power plants and in the Black Sea.

Then came Signalgate, an assault on elite universities and Wednesday’s bombshell “Liberation Day” announcements of tariffs against most of the world. Ukraine fell way down the attention scale.

So here, to catch up, is what has happened: nothing.

At least nothing by way of peace. Russia and Ukraine never reached a formal agreement on striking energy facilities and accused each other of continuing to do it. No mineral deal has been reached with Ukraine. Russia has continued battering Ukraine with missiles and drones and trying to advance on the ground. This week, attacks included a missile strike on Zelensky’s hometown and a deadly barrage of drones against Kharkiv.

There’s no sign that Putin is getting ready to stop fighting. He just signed a decree ordering a huge new round of conscription. North Korea, meanwhile, has apparently sent at least 3,000 more soldiers to join 11,000 already fighting for Russia, according to South Korea, mostly trying to dislodge Ukrainians from a pocket they seized around Kursk.

All that is said to have made Trump unhappy. On Sunday, in a rare display of displeasure with Putin, the president said he was “very angry” and “pissed off” with the Russian. But he also accused Zelensky of “trying to back out of” the minerals deal, warning that this could lead to “big, big problems.” On Wednesday, Putin’s special envoy for investment and international economic affairs, Kirill Dmitriev, arrived in Washington for a round of talks. He has already met more than once with Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy for Russia and the Middle East. Still, Reuters reported that senior Trump officials doubt any peace deal can be reached in the next few months.

Despite the purported anger with Putin, Trump’s list of countries facing new tariffs excluded Russia. The reason, the White House explained, was that there is no trade with Russia. But Ukraine was on the list, as were countries that have even less trade with the United States than Russia does, like Brunei.

All of which is to say that the Nobel Peace Prize may have to wait.