WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Friday the United States would `take a pass` on brokering further Ukraine talks unless there is quick progress from Moscow and Kyiv.

Trump was speaking after Secretary of State Marco Rubio commented _ following talks with European allies _ that Washington would `move on` if a truce did not seem `doable` within days.

`Yeah very shortly,` Trump told reporters at the Oval Office when asked to confirm what Rubio had said. `No specific number of days, but quickly. We want to get it done.

Trump refused to cast blame on either Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the Feb 2022 invasion of pro-Western Ukraine, or Ukrainian President Voloydmyr Zelensky. But he insisted both sides had to make progress.

`Now if for some reason one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we`re just going to say:`You`re foolish. You`re fools. You`re horrible people` -and we`re going to just take a pass,` Trump said.

`But hopefully we won`t have todo that.` Trump boasted repeatedly before returning for a second presidential term that he would end the Ukraine war within 24 hours. He claimed recently that he was being sarcastic.

Ukraine has agreed to a full temporary ceasefire and accused Russia of stalling on a deal to get a better negotiating position.

Trump stunned Western capitals when he opened direct talks with Putin in February, soon after taking office.

He said he hoped the Russian leader was not dragging his feet.

`I hope not,` he said when asked if Putin was stalling. `Pll let you know soon.

Trump denied that he was being `played` by the former KGB agent, who denied Russia was going to invade right up until the eve of the attack. `Nobody`s playing me, Pm trying to help,` Trump said.

Earlier, top US officials gave mixed signals about the prospect of a Ukraine ceasefire, bringing uncertainty to the peace process just as Russia abandoned a moratorium on striking Ukrainian energy targets.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Washington would `move on` from peace talks unless it saw progress soon. But speaking on a trip to Italy, US Vice President JD Vance said he was `optimistic` about ending the three-year war.

Moscow has kept up strikes on Ukraine, killing at least two people and wounding several more in attacks on the northeasternregions of Kharkiv and Sumy, Ukrainian officials said. After meeting European officials in Paris to discuss a ceasefire, Rubio said Washington needed to figure out soon whether a ceasefire was `doable in the short term`. `Because if it`s not, then I think we`re just going to move on,` he told reporters.

Moments later, Vance said he did not want to prejudge the negotiations, but declared he was `optimistic` about the chances of peace.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed the latest attacks on his country, which came just days before Easter. Kyiv earlier announced it had received the bodies of 909 soldiers from Russia.

-AFP