(Tribune News Service) — The U.S. signaled that sanctions relief for Russia could be on the table in talks over the war in Ukraine as President Donald Trump rushes toward a deal to end the three-year conflict.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that the U.S. is prepared to either ramp up or take down penalties based on the Kremlin’s willingness to negotiate.

“That’d be a very good characterization,” he said in response to a question about the potential for adjustments in either direction, in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “The president is committed to ending this conflict very quickly.”

Bessent said recent remarks by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggesting that Trump is misinformed about the war were “inappropriate” and that they had inserted “daylight” into the U.S.-Ukrainian relationship.

Trump on Wednesday called Zelenskyy a “dictator” and ratcheted up pressure on Kyiv to accept the terms of a deal to end the war. The Ukrainian president has objected to the U.S. and Russia starting to negotiate an agreement without Kyiv’s input.

U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz told reporters at the White House Thursday that Zelenskyy was at fault for aiming “insults” at Trump and described the U.S. president as “very frustrated” with him.

Trump’s envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg met with the Ukrainian president in Kyiv on Thursday. They didn’t speak together to reporters afterward, but Zelenskyy said in a post on X that “we must and can ensure that peace is strong and lasting — so that Russia can never return with war.” He said he reiterated that “American strength is felt.”

Trump’s bitter public attacks are the latest evidence of a major shift in the U.S. stance toward Russia under the new U.S. administration that has also left its European allies shocked and struggling for a response.

The change has affected talks among the Group of Seven nations, which are now struggling to agree on a draft communique to mark three years since Russia’s invasion after an initial draft was significantly watered down, according to diplomats familiar with the talks.

Trump’s broadside against Zelenskyy’s legitimacy as the Ukrainian head of state, together with false claims that he has low approval ratings, came as the country is under martial law, imposed in the wake of Russia’s invasion, which prohibits it from holding elections.

Plan sequencing

Bessent said Zelenskyy had assured him ahead of the Munich Security Conference over the weekend that Ukraine would sign a $500 billion deal handing over rights to Ukrainian minerals but then declined to do it. The deal would have laid the groundwork for a plan put forward by Trump to end the war while compensating the U.S. for the billions spent to arm Ukraine.

“The sequencing of what was going to happen was: bring the Ukrainians closer to the U.S. through economic ties, convince the American people, the American public, get them onside,” Bessent said. “And then tell the Russians, go to the negotiating table with a very fulsome message that if we need to, we will take sanctions up.”

“The U.S., with greater economic interest in Ukraine, provides a security shield,” Bessent said.

Zelenskyy this week criticized the proposed deal, which included no details of the proposed U.S. support, calling it “not a serious conversation.” European allies denounced the offer as reminiscent of colonialism.

On Thursday, Waltz told reporters that Zelenskyy “needs to come back to the table” because Trump thinks “this is an opportunity for Ukraine.”

With assistance from Viktoria Dendrinou, Annmarie Hordern, Lisa Abramowicz, Jonathan Ferro, Olesia Safronova and Kate Sullivan.

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previous coverage

• News conference between Zelenskyy and Trump’s Ukraine envoy canceled as tension rise
• Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy travels to United Arab Emirates as momentum grows for war peace talks
• As the Ukraine war reaches its 3-year mark, Russia seems to have time on its side as talks start