CNN: Trump’s Putin patience runs out: “No reason to wait” As deadline slashed to 10 days

US President Donald Trump’s growing frustration with Vladimir Putin has reached a critical point, reflecting the failure to transform what he once viewed as a promising relationship into a viable peace agreement.

“We got along very well. And I never, you know, I never really thought this would happen,” Trump said this week, Caliber.Az reports, citing US media.

“I thought we would be able to negotiate something, and maybe that’ll still happen. But it’s very late down the process. So I’m disappointed.”

This mounting exasperation culminated earlier in the week when Trump unexpectedly shortened the deadline he had previously set for Russia to reach a deal. Initially allowing 50 days, Trump now demands a ceasefire within just 10 days, threatening strict secondary sanctions and tariffs should negotiations fail. “No reason” exists, he claimed, “to wait” as he sees “no progress being made.”

A White House official revealed that the president personally chose to intensify pressure on Putin after the original deadline failed to bring the Russian leader back to the negotiating table, viewing the tighter timeframe as a strategic move.

Trump’s rapport with Putin has attracted significant scrutiny, especially during his first term, when he appeared to side with the Russian president over US intelligence agencies regarding Moscow’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The US president has expressed a sense of camaraderie with Putin, remarking in February that the Russian leader had been “through a hell of a lot with me.” Trump’s team, including his foreign envoy Steve Witkoff, cited this connection as grounds for cautious optimism when pursuing a negotiated settlement earlier this year.

Nevertheless, Trump maintains he was not “played” by Putin. Yet, his experience echoes that of previous US presidents who found cooperation with the Russian leader challenging.

George W. Bush once spoke of seeing “a sense of his soul” in Putin’s eyes and described him as “very straightforward and trustworthy,” a sentiment expressed seven years prior to Russia’s invasion of Georgia.

Barack Obama sought a “reset” with Russia, symbolised by a red “reset” button presented to his counterpart by then-Secretary of State John Kerry, just five years before the annexation of Crimea.

Currently, Trump’s deteriorating relationships with both Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are hindering his wider foreign policy ambitions.

By Aghakazim Guliyev