The US president admitted: “I don’t think he’s looking to stop.”
Donald Trump has finally admitted that Vladimir Putin is not “looking to stop” his brutal invasion of Ukraine.
The two leaders spoke over the phone on Thursday amid the US president’s faltering attempts to negotiate a peace deal between the warring countries.
More than three years since he launched a full offensive on Ukraine in a land grab, Russian counterpart has repeatedly dragged his heels over any proposed peace talks with his beleaguered neighbour.
Since Trump was sworn into office in January, he has tried to negotiate any kind of deal – even offering terms very favourable to Putin.
But Russia has repeatedly come up with a long list of conditions to delay any truce.
So it was a notable moment when US president admitted to reporters overnight: “I didn’t make any progress with him [Putin] today at all.”
He said he is still “not happy” about the war in Ukraine after they discussed it on their “pretty long call”, reportedly lasting more than an hour.
Trump said: “I’m very disappointed with the conversation I had today with President Putin, because I don’t think he’s there. I don’t think he’s there, and I’m very disappointed.”
He added: “I’m just saying, I don’t think he’s looking to stop, and that’s too bad.”
Trump, who once promised to end the war in 24 hours, described the conflict as “Biden’s war” which he claims to be “stuck in the middle” of.
The Kremlin was more positive about the “frank and constructive” conversation between the two leaders.
Putin’s foreign affairs advisor, Yuri Ushakov, said the Russian president had emphasised Moscow wants a negotiated end to the war – but was sticking by its original goals.
“Our president also said that Russia will achieve the goals it has set: that is, the elimination of the well-known root causes that led to the current state of affairs, to the current acute confrontation, and Russia will not back down from these goals,” Ushakov said.
Russia has previously suggested the conflict was triggered by the west’s expansion eastwards through Nato.
However, the war was actually started when Putin invaded in February 2022, and it could stop if only he were to withdraw his troops.
Trump and Putin’s conversation came shortly after it was confirmed that the US had stopped sending weapons to Ukraine over fears of a munitions shortage.
According to the Kremlin, Trump and Putin did not discuss the US’s decision to halt weapon shipments to Ukraine.
The US president told the press: “We’re giving weapons, but we’ve given so many weapons. But we are giving weapons, and we’re working with them and trying to help them.
“Biden emptied out our whole country giving them weapons and we have to make sure that we have enough for ourselves.”
Former US ambassador to Ukraine, William B Taylor, told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme that “it is Putin who has to decide” to end the war not Trump.
However, he added: “President Trump does have the ability to put some pressure on Putin to make that decision.”
But he said Trump keeps sending different messages about how that process to going, and right now, “Putin is really stiffing him”.
Kyiv was also attacked by a suspected Russian drone just hours after Putin spoke to Trump on the phone, suggesting peace is certainly no closer.
