President Trump has set a June deadline for Ukraine and Russia to strike a peace deal to end its four-year war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. 

Zelensky made the comments while speaking to reporters, suggesting the timing was due to the high-stakes November midterm elections in the US.

“The Americans are proposing the parties end the war by the beginning of this summer and will probably put pressure on the parties precisely according to this schedule,” Zelensky said Friday. 

“The elections are, for them, definitely more important. Let’s not be naive. They say they want to achieve everything by June, and they will do everything possible to ensure the war ends that way.”

Zelensky also expressed fear the US and Russia could strike a bilateral deal that excludes Ukraine.

“Intelligence showed me the so-called ‘Dmitriev package’ that he presented in the US,” he said referring to a $12 trillion economic cooperation package Russian envoy Kirill Dimitriev would have apparently presented during one of his meetings in Miami with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

“There are also various signals, both in the media and elsewhere, that some of these agreements could also involve issues related to Ukraine — for example, our sovereignty or Ukraine’s security,” the Ukrainian leader added.

 “We are making it clear that Ukraine will not support any such potential agreements about us that are made without us.”

The next round of trilateral talks have been proposed to take place in Miami, the first time negotiations will have taken place in the US, according to Zelensky.

“We confirmed our participation,” he said.

The concerns came as Moscow unleashed a barrage of about 400 drones and 40 missiles on Ukraine overnight into Saturday, according to Zelensky.

Four people died and 25 more were wounded across the country as a result of the shelling, including a four-year-old boy in the Dnipro region, regional authorities said.

The strike was the second biggest of the year on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, according to the state energy grid operator, plunging large parts of the war-torn country into the brutally cold winter, where temperatures have dipped to -13 degrees.

“The Russians deliberately targeted, among other things, energy facilities on which the operation of Ukrainian nuclear power plants depends,” slammed Zelensky on X.

“This puts at risk not only our security in Ukraine, but also the shared regional and European security.”

“This is a level of attack that no terrorist in the world has ever dared, and Russia must feel the world’s response.”

The largest attack of the year on the energy grid came on Tuesday, targeting two key electric substations, including one in Kyiv, that will largely plunge the capital city into darkness — with just four to six hours of electricity a day in February.

With Post Wires