Trump added that he initially believed the Russia-Ukraine War would be the “easiest” conflict to resolve, but it turned out otherwise. He also claimed that the war would not have begun if he had remained in the White House after the 2020 elections
US President Donald Trump addresses a press conference in England. PIC/AFP
United States (US) President Donald Trump said his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin has let him down by not stopping the war in Ukraine, news agency ANI reported.
“He has let me down. I mean, he's killing many people and he's losing more people than he's, you know, than he's killing. I mean, frankly, Russian soldiers are being killed at a higher rate than the Ukrainian soldiers,” Trump said during a news conference with United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Trump added that he initially believed the Russia-Ukraine War would be the “easiest” conflict to resolve, but it turned out otherwise. He also claimed that the war would not have begun if he had remained in the White House after the 2020 elections, ANI reported.
“This was a thing that would have never happened had I been president. If I were president, it would have never happened. And it didn't happen for four years,” he said, adding, “Most people agree it didn't happen, nor was it close to happening.”
Despite a summit in Alaska where Trump urged Putin to hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, no peace deal materialised. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, aiming to “demilitarize and de-Nazify” the country, according to Putin.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict, which began in 2014 with Russia’s annexation of Crimea, escalated into full-scale war in 2022. Ukraine has launched counteroffensives in the south and northeast, while Russia has captured key areas including Mariupol and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk. In August 2024, Ukraine launched an incursion into Russia’s Kursk Oblast. The UN reports over 10,000 civilian deaths, with millions displaced.
In his opening remarks, Starmer praised UK-US ties and said both countries are “ready to define this century together.” The leaders also announced a new “tech prosperity deal,” CNN reported. Starmer added that Russia’s attacks show Putin is not interested in peace and that they discussed ways to “increase the pressure on him to agree a peace deal that will last.”
Trump also criticised the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and European nations for buying oil from Russia, stating, “They're not doing the job. NATO has to get together. Europe has to get together. Europe is my friend, but Europe is buying oil from Russia. I don't want them to buy oil. And the sanctions that they're putting on are not tough enough. And I'm willing to do sanctions, but they're going to have to toughen up their sanctions commensurate with what I'm doing.”
He also opposed European imports of Russian liquefied natural gas, reported ANI.
“It's not the deal, though. The deal is they're not supposed whether it's natural gas or whether it's cigarettes, I don't care. They're not supposed to be buying from Russia,” Trump said.
The US President further wrote a letter to NATO nations, stating, “I am ready to do major sanctions on Russia when all NATO nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA.”
Additionally, he proposed imposing tariffs of 50–100 per cent on China.
“I believe that this, plus NATO, as a group, placing 50 per cent to 100 per cent TARIFFS ON CHINA, to be fully withdrawn after the WAR with Russia and Ukraine is ended, will also be of great help in ENDING this deadly, but RIDICULOUS, WAR,” Trump wrote, adding, “China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia, and these powerful Tariffs will break that grip.”
(With ANI inputs)
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