Russia declares 'Trump's peace deal is dead' as Kremlin threatens to seize all of Ukraine

By Richard Ashmore, Senior News Reporter

Donald Trump told reporters he was not happy with Putin's continued aggression (Image: Getty )

The Russian press had declared Donald Trump's peace deal is "dying a slow death" as a key ally of Vladimir Putin mocked Western ceasefire plans by posting a map showing almost all of Ukraine occupied by Kremlin forces. The Moscow-based daily newspaper Moskovskij Komsomolets ran an editorial on current ceasefire negotiations, commenting that it believed President's "energy charge" had "gone flat" and that it would soon become "obvious" even to Mr Trump that any deal was in its "death throes".

The bleak assessment was reported by the BBC's Russia Editor Steve Rosenberg during his regular dispatch covering the nation's headlines. He added that the piece in the Moskovskij Komsomolets said: "The Trump factor was significant and strong enough to get Moscow and Kyiv to the negotiating table, but judging by the current picture, it feels like Trump's peace plan is dying a slow, but necessarily painful death.

The newspaper continued: "What will happen when these death throes become so obvious that even the chronically optimistic US President cannot ignore them is a big question."

A map posted by Putin's crony Dmitry Medvedev showed Ukraine almost fully occupied by Russia. (Image: X)

The editorial said it did not believe Moscow wanted to "lose Trump", but that the desire not to "alienate" him took second place to the priority, which was "victory in Ukraine".

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has already publicly agreed to a 30-day ceasefire with Russia, but Vladimir Putin has been reticent to attend any peace talks personally, instead only sending lower-ranking officials to a meeting in Turkey earlier this month.

Britain, France and a so-called Coalition of Willing of around 30 nations have proposed a buffer zone in Ukraine between Russian and Ukrainian forces, potentially staffed by British and Western forces.

However, former Russian president and key Putin ally Dmitry Medvedev took to X to mock any plans for allied buffer zones of control over Ukraine. Sharing a map of the vast country, Mr Medvedev showed almost the entire country covered with a Russian-controlled buffer zone and only a sliver of territory left to Ukraine next to the Polish border.

Mr Medvedev, who is now the Deputy Chair of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, wrote on X: "If military aid to the Banderite (Ukrainian nationalist) regime continues, the buffer zone could look like this."

Dmitry Medvedev is a close ally of Vladimir Putin (Image: Getty )

Moscow has continued to launch deadly drone and missile strikes against Ukraine, killing and wounding scores of civilians.

Speaking to reporters in New Jersey over the weekend, President Trump said of Putin: "I've known him a long time, always gotten along with him, but he's sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don't like it at all."

On Sunday, the president posted on the Truth Social platform that he believed his Russian counterpart had "gone absolutely crazy."

He added: "I've always said that he wants all of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that's proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia!"

Britain, Europe and other key allies of Ukraine are preparing to enforce a raft of new sanctions on Russia, but so far the US administration said it will try to continue to broker peace talks or "walk away" if progress from the Kremlin is not forthcoming.

Addressing President Trump's assertion that Putin had gone "crazy", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was a "very important moment which is connected to an emotional overload of everyone involved". He added that Putin was making decisions "necessary for the security" of Russia.