"Frustrated" Trump Warns Russia-Ukraine War Could Lead To "World War III"

United States President Donald Trump has warned that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict could potentially snowball into a "third world war". Speaking to reporters at the White House, the President revealed that 25,000 people, mostly soldiers, were killed in the war last month alone and expressed deep frustration over the continued bloodshed.

Reiterating his push for an immediate end to hostilities, he said, "I'd like to see the killing stop...for the most part, 25,000 soldiers died last month. I would love to see it stop. And we're working very hard."

"Things like this end up in third-world wars. And I said that the other day. I said, Everybody keeps playing games like this. We will end up in a third world war, and we don't want to see that happen," he added.

#Watch | United States President Donald Trump has warned that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict could potentially snowball into a "third world war" pic.twitter.com/G75zizUCBq

— NDTV WORLD (@NDTVWORLD) December 12, 2025

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Trump's Frustration Over Russia-Ukraine War

With Russia and Ukraine refusing to blink, an increasingly frustrated Trump, who has bragged about ending the war within hours, is forced to watch from the sidelines.

Earlier, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also stated that the President was "extremely frustrated" with both Moscow and Kyiv over the slow progress toward reaching a truce and is unwilling to engage in "meetings just for the sake of meeting".

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Leavitt stated that Trump was "tired of meetings that achieve nothing" and wanted results, not words, as the US acts as the primary mediator to end the four-year-long war.

"The president is extremely frustrated with both sides of this war. He's sick of meetings just for the sake of meeting. He doesn't want any more talk. He wants action. He wants this war to come to an end," she said.

She further confirmed that the Trump administration remains actively involved in peace efforts, with Trump holding talks with European leaders on Wednesday and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and his team continuing direct discussions with both sides "literally as we speak".

ALSO READ: Trump's Statement On Ukraine Territories In Line With Russia's View: Kremlin

US Help Offer To Ukraine

Trump has also said that the US would be willing to contribute assistance to Ukraine as part of a security agreement to end the war with Russia. Still, he expressed disappointment that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had not more readily signed off on an American peace plan, adding to pressure on officials in Kyiv who pushed back on an earlier US proposal seen as too accommodating to Moscow.

His remarks came after Zelensky floated the prospect of allowing Ukrainians to vote on whether to hand the Donbas region to Russia. The Kremlin has insisted that Ukraine withdraw its forces from the eastern territories, which include areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that the Russian military has failed to capture in its nearly four-year invasion. 

Meanwhile, the US has dramatically scaled back direct military aid for Ukraine under Trump, instead favouring a system under which other NATO allies could purchase American armaments for Kyiv.