‘Putin let me down’: Trump says he thought solving Ukraine war was ‘easy’

US President Donald Trump on Thursday admitted he thought that it would be ‘easier’ for him to ‘solve’ the Ukraine conflict, but blamed Vladimir Putin for the continuation of hostilities, saying the Russian leader has let him down. Trump made the remarks in a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London.

“The one that I thought would be easiest would be because of my relationship with President (Vladimir) Putin… He’s let me down. He’s really let me down,” Trump said. “Was going to be Russia and Ukraine, but we’ll see how that turns out. But that turned out to be — I thought it might be among the easiest of the group.”

Trump-Putin’s Alaska Summit

Trump’s statement comes a month after he held a historic summit with Putin in Alaska, aiming to end the war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022. Following the meeting, the two leaders held a joint presser, calling the summit extremely successful, while blaming the Biden administration for the breakout of the war.

During the presser, Putin had also publicly invited Trump to Moscow for the second round of talks. However, since then, the talks have hit a roadblock, and the two sides have failed to arrive at a consensus to end the war. The Trump administration has also repeatedly claimed that Putin is not interested in ending the war, urging his allies to impose sanctions on Russia. 

‘Not actions of someone who wants peace’: Starmer

During the same presser on Thursday, UK’s Starmer also slammed Putin, saying the Russian leader is not interested in peace. He said Putin’s “actions are not of someone who wants peace”. Starmer said he and Trump also discussed increasing pressure on Putin to “get him to agree a peace deal that will last”.

“In recent days, Putin has shown his true face – mounting the biggest attack since the invasion began, with yet more bloodshed, yet more innocents killed, and unprecedented violations of NATO airspace,” the British PM said.