Amid Russian resistance to his peacemaking efforts, President Donald Trump on Thursday appeared to suggest Ukraine go on the offensive militarily.
In a post to his social media platform, Trump criticized former President Joe Biden's approach to the conflict, claiming Biden "would not let Ukraine FIGHT BACK, only DEFEND."
"It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invaders country. It’s like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense, but is not allowed to play offensive. There is no chance of winning!" Trump wrote.
MORE: Trump's met with Putin and Zelenskyy. What's next for Russia-Ukraine peace talks?
Biden last year reversed a long-standing policy and authorized Ukraine to use American-supplied ATACM long-range missiles to strike inside of Russia, but before that the administration had blocked strikes inside of Russia, only allowing the Ukrainian military to use shorter-range missiles to strike in Ukrainian territory seized by Russia.
President Donald J Trump speaks during a Multilateral Meeting with European leaders in the East Room of the White House in Washington, August 18, 2025.
Aaron Schwartz/EPA/Shutterstock
Trump long opposed allowing Ukraine to strike Russia, heavily criticizing Biden for authorizing it and as President he has appeared to discourage it as escalatory.
But Trump has recently taken an interest in the possibility of Ukrainian strikes deep into Russia. has taken interest in the possibility of Ukrainian strikes deep into Russia. The White House confirmed July reports that Trump discussed with Zelenskyy whether Ukraine would be able to strike St. Petersburg and Moscow with U.S.-supplied weapons. But the White House insisted that Trump was "asking a question, not encouraging further killing."
It is unclear whether Trump is hinting at any policy change on U.S. support for Ukraine with his post on Thursday, though he did write at the end: "Interesting times ahead!!!"
Trump's post came as Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, downplays the prospect of a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the coming weeks. The White House said this week Putin "promised" to sit-down with Zelenskyy, but Russia has not confirmed.
In remarks on Thursday, Lavrov said a meeting between the two leaders could only take place once all major components of a peace agreement are worked out.
“Our president has repeatedly said that he is ready to meet, including with Mr. Zelenskyy, on the understanding that all issues requiring consideration at the highest level will be thoroughly worked out and experts and ministers will prepare appropriate recommendations," Lavrov said.
Such conditions appeared to make a meeting in the near future very unlikely.Like Putin, Lavrov sought to cast Zelenskyy as an illegitimate leader, saying when "it comes to signing future agreements, the question of the legitimacy of the person signing these agreements on the Ukrainian side will be resolved." Putin has taken to not mentioning Zelenskyy by name, instead giving his government the moniker "Kyiv regime."
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Lavrov also continued to insist Russia have a role in any security guarantees for Ukraine post-war. He rejected the European-led discussions as "futile."
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a joint press conference with India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar following their talks at Zinaida Morozova's Mansion in Moscow, Russia August 21, 2025.
Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool via Reuters
While Trump projected optimism on Monday on peace talks, he's now saying he'll know whether a deal can be made in "two weeks."
"Well, I'll let you know in about, I would say within two weeks, we're going to know one way or the other. After that, we'll have to maybe take a different tack, but we'll see, but we'll know pretty soon," Trump said during an interview with radio host Todd Starnes.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy is accusing Russia of trying to "wriggle out" of a meeting.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, August 20, 2025 and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in Kyiv, Aug. 20, 2025.
EPA/Shutterstock/AFP via Getty Images
"Right now, the signals coming from Russia are, to be honest, simply indecent. They are trying to wriggle out of the need to hold a meeting. They do not want to end this war. They continue massive attacks against Ukraine and extremely intense assaults on the front line. And on top of that, they are launching missiles at an American enterprise -- just like they do at many of our other completely civilian targets."
Zelenskyy said he will continue diplomatic discussions with partners and encouraged greater pressure on Russia to end the war, which began when Putin's forces invaded Ukraine in Feb. 2022.
"Each day now adds more shape to the future security architecture for Ukraine: weapons, funding, cooperation with our partners, forces on land, in the air, and at sea," Zelenskyy said on Thursday.
ABC News' William Gretsky and Anna Sergeeva contributed to this report.