Since taking office, the U.S. president has repeatedly boasted about how quickly he would end Russia’s full-scale aggression, but Kiev officials insisted that any peace deal must have favorable terms for Ukraine.
Since taking office on Monday, Trump has escalated his rhetoric, telling reporters on Tuesday that Putin is in “big trouble” and that they should make a deal.
President Trump: “(Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskiy said he wants to make a deal, but I don’t know if President Putin will agree to it, but he may not. I think he should make a deal. “I think we are destroying Russia by not coming together,” he said in the Oval Office on the first day of his second term as president, referring to Russia’s economic slump and inflation.
He added that President Putin cannot be satisfied with the slow progress in the situation in Ukraine. Kremlin leaders had planned to capture Kiev and other cities within 48 hours of the invasion in February 2022.
“He’s been trying. Most people thought this would last about a week, but now it’s been three years. This doesn’t make him look good,” Trump said.
The US president also claimed earlier that a meeting between him and Putin had been arranged, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said no substantive preparations were underway.
