Trump Gives Familiar Two-Week Deadline for Next Steps to End War in Ukraine

WASHINGTON—President Trump offered a new—and familiar—deadline for the leaders of Russia and Ukraine to move forward with a peace process or face possible U.S. retaliation, saying that within “two weeks” he’ll make his determination.“I think I’ll know the attitude of Russian, and frankly Ukraine,” Trump said at the White House Friday, “and then we’ll make a decision about what we’re going to do.”Should the two leaders fail to take steps toward resolving the war in the timeframe, Trump said he could enact “massive sanctions” or “massive tariffs” or he might do nothing and “say it’s your fight.” Trump said he would determine his next steps depending on who he believes is at fault for delaying progress.“I’ll see whose fault it is,” Trump said. “I know exactly what I’m doing.” He added: “I’ll know within two weeks what I’m going to do,” Trump said.Trump frequently gives himself—or others—a two-week deadline to make decisions. He said he’d decide within two weeks whether to bomb Iran and then did it within days. He has suggested that federal approvals to build nuclear power plants should take “two weeks;” offered other leaders “two weeks” to learn about trade deals and said in May that he’d know within “two weeks” if Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to end the war.Trump also said Friday he’s “not happy” about the recent Russian strike on a U.S.-owned factory in Ukraine.Trump has been engaged in a flurry of diplomacy in recent days to create a peace process aimed at ending the 3½-years-long war in Ukraine. But after initial high-profile meetings there’s been little visible progress and Russian officials have rebuffed a series of proposals.Ahead of his summit last week with Putin, Trump said he expected an agreement for a cease-fire, or the U.S. would retaliate against Moscow. The meeting ended with no agreement to stop the fighting, and Trump didn’t impose any new sanctions on Russia or tariffs on countries that buy its oil.On Monday, Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders at the White House and announced a two-step process toward peace. Putin and Zelensky, he said, would meet first and then he proposed a three-way meeting between himself and the Russian and Ukrainian leaders.Trump also agreed to provide U.S. assistance for security assurances to enforce any peace agreement between the warring sides. And he put Secretary of State Marco Rubio in charge of a multinational task force to work out the details of what various countries will provide.Last week, prior to the meeting with Europeans, Trump flew to Alaska where he met with Putin to discuss ending the war.On Friday, Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, held up a photograph of himself standing next to Putin in Alaska that he said the Russian leader sent him. “I thought it was a nice picture of him—okay of me, but nice of him,” Trump said.Trump said he planned to sign the photo for Putin.Write to Annie Linskey at annie.linskey@wsj.com and Alexander Ward at alex.ward@wsj.com