Putin doing what anyone else would, says Trump
Hopes for a ceasefire rest on Saudi Arabia talks between Ukraine’s President Zelensky and US officials next week, after the proposed minerals deal stalled.
US President Donald Trump said he finds it “easier” to deal with Russia than Ukraine as he claimed that President Vladimir Putin was “doing what anybody else would do” by intensifying his bombing of the war-torn country.
The US president, who has been widely criticised for his willingness to trust Putin and see the conflict from Russia’s perspective, added that the Kremlin leader “wants to end the war ... and I think he’s going to be more generous than he has to be”.
Trump spoke in the Oval Office shortly after raising Ukrainian hopes of a more balanced approach to the crisis by threatening Russia with “large scale banking sanctions, sanctions, and tariffs” unless it agreed to a ceasefire.
However, this echoed a similar threat he made in January that preceded his aggressive treatment of President Zelensky and talks with Moscow to re-establish US-Russia relations.
With the proposed US-Ukraine agreement on natural resources also stalled, as Trump reportedly seeks better terms for America, hopes for a ceasefire now rest on talks in Saudi Arabia next week between Zelensky and American officials led by Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state.
It comes as:
- The private US satellite imagery company Maxar stopped sharing images with Ukraine under pressure from the Trump administration, placing the country at a further disadvantage on the battlefield.
- Trump said he had written a letter to Iran’s supreme leader, saying that he wants talks over the country’s nuclear ambitions.
- Poland announced that “every adult male” in the country would be put through military training.
- Three Bulgarians were on Friday convicted of spying for Russia in Britain as the Metropolitan Police warned that Moscow was recruiting criminal gangs in the UK.
“I think we’re doing very well with Russia and right now they’re bombing the hell out of Ukraine,” Trump said, when asked whether he believed Putin was ready for peace. He was speaking a week after the Oval Office was the stage for a dramatic argument between himself, JD Vance, the US vice-president, and Zelensky.
“I’m finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine and they don’t have the cards. ... I find that in terms of getting a final settlement, it may be easier dealing with Russia, which is surprising, because they have all the cards,” he said.
“They’re bombing the hell out of them [Ukraine] right now. And I put out ... a very strong statement, can’t do that ... We’re trying to help them and Ukraine has to get on the ball and get a job done.”
Asked if the Russian leader was taking advantage of the American pause in vital assistance to Ukraine, Trump said that Putin was “doing what anybody else would do” by intensifying the bombing of civilian and infrastructure targets.
Trump emphasised his personal bond with Putin, appeared to appreciate the Russian leader’s approach and suggested that he knew his mind.
“I think I do know how to end the war ... I’ve always had a good relationship with Putin. He wants to end the war. He wants to end it,” Trump said. “I think he’s going to be more generous than he has to be. That’s pretty good. That means a lot of good things.”
Trump’s block on US intelligence sharing with Ukraine in order to pressure Zelensky into concessions on a peace deal is already having a negative impact on the country’s defences, Ukrainian sources said. Russia launched an intense series of attacks from missiles and drones on Thursday night aimed at infrastructure and some civilian targets.
In his evening address last night, Zelensky said: “Ukraine is ready for peace as soon as possible: we have proposed concrete steps. Every day, new Russian strikes and reality itself prove that it is Russia that must be forced to peace - to stop the war, to real diplomacy, to guarantee security and to a reliable, lasting peace.”
A British government source said many in the Ministry of Defence were “shocked by the intelligence stopping” earlier in the week and believed that Trump and Vance were prepared to have “blood on their hands”. The source added: “It’s essentially blindfolding the majority of their weapons and air defences.”
One foreign diplomat in London said of Trump: “I think there is no strategy but to demolish. What comes afterwards no one knows, even Trump himself.”
Trump may also revive plans from his first term, reversed by Joe Biden, to move out a large number of the 35,000 US troops and other personnel based in Germany. At the time Trump linked this to Germany being “delinquent” on defence funding.
Vance spoke incredulously last month about the US military presence in Germany. He told a conference: “Think about this. Germany’s entire defence is subsidised by the American taxpayer. There are thousands upon thousands of American troops in Germany today. Do you think that the American taxpayer is going to stand for that if you get thrown in jail in Germany for posting a mean tweet? Of course they’re not.”
President Macron of France said on Friday that his country was a “loyal and faithful” US ally after Trump warned Nato members that any nation that did not meet the alliance’s defence spending target of 2 per cent of GDP would not be defended by the US.
Article 5 of the founding treaty states that an attack against one ally would be considered an attack against all.
The Times
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