Trump says he made ‘no progress’ with Putin on ending the war in latest call

Meduza.io

U.S. President Donald Trump said he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin has no intention of ending the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported, citing Trump’s remarks.

“I’m very disappointed with the conversation I had today with President Putin, because I don’t think he’s there, and I’m very disappointed,” Trump told reporters. “I don’t think he’s looking to stop, and that’s too bad.”

“I didn’t make any progress with [Putin] at all,” he added.

According to the Kremlin’s account of Thursday’s call between the two presidents, Trump “raised the issue of ending hostilities in Ukraine as soon as possible,” while Putin expressed Moscow’s readiness to continue negotiations with Kyiv. At the same time, the Russian leader said Moscow “will not abandon its goals of eliminating the causes of the conflict.”

Trump also said Washington has not fully halted its arms deliveries to Kyiv. He accused his predecessor, Joe Biden, of sending so much weaponry to Ukraine that it had weakened the United States’ own defenses.

“We’re giving weapons, but we’ve given so many weapons,” Trump said. “And we’re working with them and trying to help them, but we haven’t [completely stopped deliveries]. You know, Biden emptied out our whole country giving them weapons, and we have to make sure that we have enough for ourselves.”

He added that he plans to speak by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 4. Zelensky had previously said he was hoping for that conversation and planned to raise the issue of suspended arms shipments, which came to light earlier this week.