European officials say the US president Donald Trump will soon be faced with a difficult decision in his attempt to end the war in Ukraine.

After three -day talks in Saudi Arabia that ended on Tuesday, Russian officials said they wanted to remove certain sanctions before they were implementing a ceasefire in the Black Sea, making US plans difficult to quickly secure a wider agreement.

The US president has promised a quick end of war in Ukraine as a sign of his ability as a negotiator and the Russian president Vladimir Putin He seems to use this public position against him, some European officials said, according to the Bloomberg agency.

Moscow seems to have the intention to extend the discussions and maintain the field of talks closely to push the US to retreat, officials who spoke to the international agency said on the condition of anonymity. Trump’s decision to link relations with Moscow to other US concerns, such as Iran and China, has also provided Putin pressure lever, the same sources added.

All this means that the US president may be forced to make a choice, officials said: he may start pushing the Russia Or it can make more and more important concessions to Putin in order to comply with the self -imposed deadline for ending the battles.

“I think Russia wants to finish it, but it can be stuck,” Trump said Tuesday in an interview with Newsmax.

After exposing its requests for sanctions on these talks, Russia will require future agreements to include similar guarantees for specific benefits and not just indefinite mutual concessions, according to a person who is aware of the Kremlin’s rationale.

Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski He told reporters on Tuesday that Russia is using Trump’s desire to bring the ceasefire as an opportunity to promote its demands on agreements that were supposed to be unconditional. He also noted that his forces would immediately observe the partial truce.

European officials said Tuesday night that the ceasefire in the Black Sea was not in place on the ground and that the details had not yet been finalized.

During parallel talks in Saudi Arabia with Ukrainian and Russian delegations this week, US officials sought to secure immediate ceasefire in the Black Sea and interruption of attacks aimed at energy infrastructure.

However, Moscow reported that her participation in Agreement on the Black Sea It depends on a number of terms, including the removal of certain sanctions. A Kremlin’s statement states that the moratorium on energy raids came into force on March 18 for 30 days.

“The whole deal on the Black Sea has a secret goal – to start lifting US sanctions against Russia”said Sergei Markov, a political adviser with close ties to the Kremlin.

There is practically no military confrontation between Russia and Ukraine in the Black Sea right now, as Kiev forced the Kremlin to move its ships with a series of attacks by sea unmanned aircraft.

Zelenski’s adviser, Dmitro Lutvin, told the social media platform X that at least eight Ukrainian energy infrastructures have been hit by March 18. Every night, Russia launches a storm of unmanned aircraft and Ukraine rejects some of them, but does not know what they were aiming for, he noted.

During the night, Russia bombed the city of Cryvi Ri, with the largest drone attack since the launch of the full -scale invasion, local authorities said. Russian drones also attacked the Ocakiv Black Sea port on Tuesday night.

The United States said in a statement after the talks that Moscow and Kiev have agreed to process mechanisms to implement the cessation of energy infrastructure. The US will also “help restore Russia’s access to the world market for exports of agricultural and fertilizers, reduce the cost of insurance in shipping and boost access to ports and payment systems for such transactions,” according to the White House.

The Trump government has previously told the allies that it will not rest in trade with Russia until the war is over, although the sanctions will probably be part of any agreement.

Among the requests of the Kremlin, the Russians have called for some banks to reintegrate the international Swift payment system. In order for such a move to be effective, the European Union agreement would be needed, which has also limited Russian banks’ access to the system. European officials said this is very unlikely and would require unanimous support of all 27 Member States.

The Trump government aims to achieve a complete ceasefire as soon as possible and until April 20, Bloomberg said previously. But European officials said this seems very ambitious. Given the current situation of talks, it will take months to process the details of a final agreement, they said.

Despite Trump’s efforts, Putin’s main demands have not changed, according to Western officials. These include the desire to dismantle the Ukrainian army, to attach territories to Moscow and illegally claims that they are Russian and to stop the weapons traditions in Kiev.

The evaluation of the US intelligence community itself published this week states that Russia and Ukraine may have a greater motivation to prolong the conflict rather than rushing into an unsatisfactory settlement.

European officials have expressed hope Trump will eventually conclude that Putin is not reasonable or honest in his desire for a constant peace agreement. However, officials said, the US president’s willingness to make a quick solution makes it difficult to predict what he will finally decide.

Trump has repeatedly stated that he believes that both Putin and Zelenski would like to see the end of conflict and that he personally wants to end both US violence and costs for help to Kiev.

‘I just want to see it stop’, Trump said in the Newsmax interview. “I also don’t want to pay.”