Donald Trump stepped up the pressure on Volodymyr Zelensky Monday with a stark warning: ‘Sign up to a peace deal or risk annihilation because I have decided to… See more

Trump warns Zelensky he ‘won’t be around very long’ if he refuses peace deal with RussiaThe U.S. president spoke to reporters at the White House after an investment announcement, and used the occasion to further ratchet up pressure on the Ukrainian leader.

He said Zelensky should be ‘more appreciative’ of American aid if he wants Washington’s help and made clear his frustration after their Oval Office summit on Friday descended into a slanging match.

On Monday, Trump was asked what Zelensky needed to do to resume talks with Washington.

‘Well, I just think you should be more appreciative, because this country has stuck with them through thick and thin,’ he said, before repeating a falsehood about levels of American aid.

‘We’ve given them much more than Europe, and Europe should have given more than us.’

Trump is pushing for a rapid deal to end the war in Ukraine.

His administration has held talks with Kyiv on a rare earth minerals deal that would allow Washington to recoup some of its costs.

However, Zelensky and his European allies fear a peace deal with Moscow that is not backed by U.S. military might could allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to simply renew his attack later.

Trump said he would give an update on the minerals deal during his speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.

And he hinted Zelensky might not survive long if he continued to make demands ahead of a peace deal.

‘It should not be that hard a deal to make,’ he said.

‘It could be made very fast. Now, maybe somebody doesn’t want to make a deal, and if somebody doesn’t want to make a deal, I think that person won’t be around very long. That person will not be listened to very long.’

After the clash in the Oval Office, Zelensky traveled to Europe where leaders rallied around the embattled Ukrainian leader.

He tried to paint the U.S.-Ukraine relationship in a more positive light, but also said that deal between Russian and Ukraine ‘is still very, very far away.’

That triggered Trump, who had campaigned on a promise to end the war on day one.

‘This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelensky, and America will not put up with it for much longer,’ Trump posted on his Truth Social website.

Trump said: ‘It is what I was saying, this guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing and, Europe, in the meeting they had with Zelensky, stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the U.S.’

He added in what appeared to be an attack on European leaders: ‘Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia. What are they thinking?’

This comes after NATO chief Mark Rutte last night pointed to promises from more European countries to ‘ramp up defence spending’, while insisting that Washington remained committed to the transatlantic alliance.

French President Emmanuel Macron suggested that European countries should raise their defence spending to between 3.0 and 3.5 percent of GDP to respond to Washington’s shifting priorities and Russia’s militarisation.

Last week, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced that the UK would increase its defence spending to 2.5 per cent of its GDP, slashing the aid budget, with plans to increase military spending to three per cent soon after.

While the US is the largest single donor of aid to Ukraine, more than 50 allies and partner countries have provided security assurances to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022.

As of December 31, 2024, Europe had contributed 132.3bn euros in allocated aid, versus 114.2bn given by the US.

Europe’s contributions are also expected to keep flowing; 115.1bn remained to be allocated from Europe, with just 4.84bn from the US.

The key difference is in what the U.S. is able to supply. Britain has been able to match the U.S. with long-range missiles, able to hit deep into Russian territory. And the Challenger 2 tank has been one of the most reliable fixtures on the battlefield.

But American air defences – and their sheer volume – are critical to fending off Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities and disrupting utilities.

Long range ATACMS missiles can also ‘make a significant difference in the war’, according to Olga Tokariuk, Academy Associate, Ukraine Forum, Russia and Eurasia Programme.

The summit between the European leaders, where countries promised to increase their defence spending to react to Washington’s shifting priorities and Russia’s militarisation, has been commended by US national security advisor Mike Waltz.

‘We welcome the Europeans taking a lead in European security,’ he told reporters at the White House and even praised Sir Keir and Macron.

‘I mean that’s been an underpinning. They have to invest in the capability to do that. They’re certainly showing a will. Both Starmer and Macron showed that will last week before Friday.’

Waltz added: ‘We also had the NATO Secretary-General on the phone with the president before President Zelensky came. We welcome Europe stepping up for Europe, but they have to also invest in the capabilities to do so.

‘All of that was evident was before Friday, and he [Zelensky] could have been left with economic guarantees that benefited Ukraine […] it’s really confounding to us why we had such hostility coming in.’

Should the US withdraw from NATO and cease to provide security guarantees to the continent in the face of threats from Russia, Europe would need to dramatically increase its nuclear weapons stockpile, experts have warned.

Maximilian Terhalle, a former Senior Adviser for strategic affairs to Britain’s Ministry of Defence and Visiting Professor at the Grand Strategy Programme of King’s College London told The Telegraph: ‘We need to be on par with Russia’s 1,550 strategic warheads. Otherwise we will not strategically influence what is going on in Putin’s mind, which is critical for deterrence.’

Russia has more than 5,000 nuclear warheads at its disposal, with 1,550 strategic warheads deployed in line with the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) – though Putin suspended Moscow’s participation in 2023.

By contrast, Britain and France – the only nuclear armed powers in Europe – have a shared total of just over 500 warheads.

Recognising Europe’s vulnerability in the event of a US withdrawal from NATO, German Chancellor-elect Friedrich Merz declared last month he would explore the possibility of forming a nuclear triumvirate with Britain and France.

Merz, who is currently trying to get the outgoing Bundestag to vote through a constitutional change that would allow Germany to dramatically boost defence spending, said: ‘We have to talk to the British and French whether their nuclear protection could also be extended to us.

‘(This is) an issue that the French government has repeatedly raised with the German government… We must talk to each other about what that could look like.’

It comes as NATO’s former Supreme Allied Commander in Europe said the alliance could be in its ‘last days’ and predicted that European members may come together to form a new security pact.

Admiral James Stavridis, who served as the NATO’s Europe commander from 2009-2013, told CNN: ‘We could see the end of NATO and the start of what might be called the European Treaty Organisation, ETO.’

US President Donald Trump has not yet spoken on the possibility of an American withdrawal from NATO, though former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton admitted last month that such a scenario is ‘highly probable’.

The Trump administration has however made it clear that European members of the transatlantic security bloc must shoulder the responsibility for their own security and that of Ukraine as the White House focuses on a showdown with China.

NATO’s nuclear deterrence is heavily reliant on the US, which has the second largest stockpile of nukes at around 5,200 to Russia’s 5,800 – though more a thousand of them are thought to be retired and awaiting disarmament.

Several hundred of these warheads are deployed in countries in Europe – primarily at locations in Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, to serve as a deterrent for the continent.

NATO conducts a major nuclear exercise every year to ensure its readiness and to deter any would-be aggressor – primarily Russia.

However, while European members of the alliance contribute aircraft for use in a nuclear deployment scenario, Washington retains ultimate control over the use of these weapons.

Any suggestion that the US could withdraw support from NATO is therefore a serious cause for concern for European defence chiefs, who could see their nuclear capabilities completely diminished.

Ukraine has been fighting for its survival for the past three years, ever since Russian forces rolled across its borders.

Zelensky has been hailed a hero for leading the resistance, but he has received a very different reception in Washington since Trump returned to power.

He was berated by the president and his vice president in the Oval Office after he told them that Putin was not a man to be trusted.

In London, he tried to offer a more positive take on the U.S.-Ukraine relationship.

‘I think our relationship will continue, because it’s more than an occasional relationship,’ he said late Sunday. Trump’s post linked to those comments as he berated the Ukrainian leader.

Trump’s comments come as key national security figures were expected to meet with the US President to discuss the future of American aid to Ukraine.

A source said Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz were expected to join with other senior officials to work out next steps.

Zelensky and European leaders want a U.S. ‘backstop’ to any peace deal. They believe U.S. air power or air defense systems are essential for deterring any future Russian attack but are ready to deploy U.K. and French peacekeepers if a deal can be done.

American officials have said that a minerals deal, giving the U.S. a huge stake in Ukrainian reserves of critical rare earth deposits, would be enough to protect Ukraine.

But the British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said Monday: ‘The mineral deal is not enough on its own.’

Key Trump officials have lined up to warn Zelensky that time is running out for him.

‘The American people’s patience is not unlimited, their wallets are not unlimited, and our stockpiles and munitions are not unlimited,’ Waltz told Fox News. ‘So the time to talk is now.’