US President Donald Trump has suggested he is reconsidering Russia sanctions after tense talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Photo / Getty Images
US President Donald Trump has suggested he is reconsidering Russia sanctions after tense talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Photo / Getty Images
US President Donald Trump says he is “very unhappy” about his telephone call with Vladimir Putin on the war in Ukraine, saying the Russian leader just wanted to “keep killing people”.
“It’s a very tough situation. I told you I was very unhappy with my call with President Putin. Hewants to go all the way, just keep killing people, it’s no good,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday.
Trump also hinted he may finally be ready to toughen sanctions against Russia, having held off for the past six months while he tried to persuade Putin to end the war.
“We talk about sanctions a lot,” Trump said. “He understands that it may be coming.”
Trump added that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, had a “very strategic call” on Friday, as concerns mounted in Kyiv over US military aid deliveries.
Zelenskyy said earlier that the two leaders had agreed to work to “strengthen” Ukraine’s air defences, after Russia’s largest drone and missile barrage of the invasion so far.
Trump said he had also discussed sending Patriot interceptor missiles to Ukraine in a separate call with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday, although he had not yet agreed to do so.
Merz “feels they have to be protected”, Trump said.
