Ukraine bonds surge as Trump pressures Russia for a quick truce.

Ukrainian bonds demonstrated their largest gain in a month right directly following US President Donald Trump’s increased pressure on Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to quickly end the war in Ukraine. The country’s dollar-denominated bonds maturing in 2035 and 2036 gained nearly 1.5 cents. Ukraine currently has six out of the eight best-performing bonds in emerging markets as of Monday.

Yesterday, the US president stated during a visit to Scotland that he would set a new deadline of 10-12 days for the Russian president to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine, effectively shortening the original 50-day timeline that was set to expire on September 2. These remarks sparked speculation about a potential truce, which helped push up the prices of Ukrainian debt.

Ukraine’s dollar bonds had rallied after Trump won the US election, fueled by hopes he would pursue a quick peace deal. But sentiment tanked as peace talks stalled, with prices falling 12% year-to-date. That’s the worst performance among emerging-market peers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.