Over the past two months, the United States has been talking with both Ukraine and Russia – separately – to try to fulfill one of President Donald Trump’s main campaign promises: ending the war in Ukraine. Trump repeatedly touted that he would end the war within 24 hours of taking office if elected president on the campaign trail, but nearly two months on there is no sign of a real breakthrough.
Trump has walked back from his pledge – first extending the self-imposed deadline to six months, then saying he was being “a little bit sarcastic” about the 24-hour timeframe.
More recently the president said in an interview with Newsmax that Moscow could be “dragging their feet” on a ceasefire deal.
Trump has made it clear that Ukraine will have to acquiesce with his hardline approach if it wants to continue to receive military support from the country.
And while Russia has said it agrees in principle to the US ceasefire proposals, it has consistently came up with “buts” and “only ifs” that undermine any deals.
Here’s how the ceasefire negotiations have played out so far:
January 20: Trump is inaugurated as president of the United States. On the campaign trail, Trump had promised to end the war in Ukraine in a day.
February 12: Trump announces he has called Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss a possible ceasefire deal between Ukraine and Russia. It’s the first known conversation between the presidents since Trump assumed office in January.
The call marks a U-turn on years of US foreign policy and takes European allies by surprise. Russia has waged war on eastern Ukraine since 2014 and launched a full-scale invasion in 2022.
Later the same day, Trump calls Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to inform him about his conversation with Putin and his plans to end the war in Ukraine.
February 15: The White House says top officials will travel to Saudi Arabia to meet with Russian officials to begin talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.
February 17: Kyiv and its European allies express disappointment over their exclusions from the talks, stressing that no deal can be done without Ukraine at the table. An emergency summit is held in Paris with European and NATO leaders.
February 18: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Riyadh. National security adviser Mike Waltz and Trump’s foreign envoy Steve Witkoff also attend the first round of the talks with sovereign wealth fund chief Kirill Dmitriev attending with Russian officials.
Speaking after the talks, Rubio says concessions will have to be made by “all sides” to end the war. Meanwhile, Trump criticizes Zelensky who said he won’t accept a deal made in Ukraine’s absence.
February 28: Zelensky travels to the US, where he was expected to sign a minerals deal with the country. However, the meeting descends into a chaotic argument between Zelensky and Trump after Vice President JD Vance attacks Zelensky and suggests Ukraine should use diplomacy to end the war, accusing him of not wanting peace.
Vance’s suggestion surprises Zelensky and an unusually public argument erupts between the three leaders.
The meeting ends with Zelensky being asked to leave early, with no sign of a deal.
March 1: The meeting-gone-wrong rattles European leaders, who convene an emergency summit in London to discuss what to do to keep Ukraine armed in its fight against Russia.
March 2: Zelensky receives a warm welcome in the UK after the meeting with Trump, where he is greeted by King Charles III.
March 3: Trump says he will be withholding shipments of military aid to Ukraine. The pause applies to all aid not yet inside Ukraine, officials say. Within Europe and Ukraine, officials scramble to assess the impact of the pause and make a plan to keep Ukraine armed.
March 4: Zelensky issues a public statement, saying the Oval Office meeting did not go to plan and reiterating that Ukraine is ready to sign the minerals deal. He stops short of apologizing.
March 5: The US announces it will stop sharing crucial intelligence with the country. Later that day, Ukrainian and US officials say they agreed to meet “in the near future.”
March 11: Ukraine agrees in principle to a ceasefire proposal following talks between the two countries in Saudi Arabia, and the US agrees to reinstate military and intelligence sharing.
March 13: Witkoff travels to Moscow to brief Kremlin officials on the US-proposed plan. Putin says he agrees in principle but then presented a list of demands that made the plan impossible to carry out. Those demands include a suggestion that Ukraine halts mobilization and any training of its troops, and that other nations stop supplying weapons to Kyiv during the ceasefire.
March 18: Trump speaks to Putin on the phone but fails to convince him to sign on to the ceasefire agreement. The White House says that Russia had agreed to temporarily halt attacks on energy and infrastructure targets in Ukraine. But Russia instead said it had agreed to refrain from attacks on “energy infrastructure.”
March 19: Trump and Zelensky speak on the phone. Trump says the call was “very good,” and lasted roughly one hour, with much of the conversation focusing on his conversation with Putin on the previous day.
March 21: The southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa is struck by a large-scale Russian drone attack.
March 23: US and Ukrainian officials meet in Saudi Arabia. Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov describes the talks as “productive and focused.”
March 24: US officials meet with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia.
March 25: Russian and US officials meet in the same hotel in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.
By the afternoon, the White House says Ukraine and Russia have agreed to “ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force, and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea.”
Ukraine’s Zelensky says in a news conference that Kyiv has agreed to stop using military force in the Black Sea, but shortly after, the Kremlin says it will agree provided financial sanctions are lifted on key Russian institutions – thereby making the deal void.
Following that call, Trump told Newsmax he believes Russia wants to end its war with Ukraine, but that Moscow could be delaying a deal.
“I think that Russia wants to see an end to it, but it could be they’re dragging their feet. I’ve done it over the years,” the president told the right-wing cable channel.