President Donald Trump revealed in the Oval Office Friday which leader – Russia’s Vladimir Putin or Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky – has been easier to deal with, while issuing a stark new World War III warning.
A reporter pointed out to Trump that Putin was bombing Ukraine and asked the president if he believed the Russian leader still wanted peace.
‘I believe him, I believe him,’ Trump answered. ‘I think we’re doing really well with Russia.’
The president noted that Russia was ‘bombing the hell out of Ukraine.’
‘I’m finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine,’ Trump said.
The comments come a week after Trump and Zelensky’s blow-up in the Oval Office, which prompted the U.S. to pause intelligence sharing and weapons deliveries to Ukraine, a longtime ally.
They also come within hours of Trump pushing that he was ‘strongly considering’ imposing sanctions and tariffs on Russia until a ceasefire and peace agreement come to fruition.
‘Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely “pounding” Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED,’ Trump posted to Truth Social Friday morning.
‘To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late,’ the president added.
President Donald Trump revealed in the Oval Office Friday which leader – Russia ‘s Vladimir Putin or Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky – has been easier to deal with, while issuing a stark new World War III warning
‘I’m finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine,’ Trump said Friday, a week after his Oval Office blow-up with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (left). Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) is photographed in Moscow on Friday
During his Oval Office Q&A, the president riverted to saying the onus was on Ukraine, because the country doesn’t ‘have the cards.’
‘As you know we’re meeting in Saudi Arabia sometime next week. And we find that in terms with getting a final settlement it may be easier dealing with Russia, which is suprising because they have all the cards,’ Trump continued. ‘And they are bombing the hell out of them right now.’
‘We’re trying to help them,’ the president said. ‘And Ukraine has to get on the ball and get a deal done.’
When asked if Putin and the Russians were taking advantage of the U.S.’s weapons and intelligence pause to pummel Ukraine, Trump pushed that Putin’s actions were understandable.
‘I actually think he’s doing what anybody else would do,’ Trump answered. ‘I think he wants to get it stopped and settled, and I think he’s hitting them harder than he’s been hitting them, and I think anybody in that position probably would be doing that right now.’
‘He wants to get it ended and I think Ukraine wants to get it ended but I don’t see – it’s crazy – they’re taking tremendous punishment, I don’t quite get it,’ Trump continued.
National Security Advisor Michael Waltz also addressed reporters, calling the current state of the war a ‘meat grinder.’
A reporter pointed out that Trump was aware that Ukraine was being pounded and asked why he wasn’t supplying the country with air defenses.
‘I have to know that they want to settle,’ Trump replied. ‘I don’t know that they want to settle. If they don’t want to settle, we’re out of there because we want them to settle.’
‘This thing could end up in a World War III if we don’t get it settled,’ Trump added. ‘This could really end up in a World War III.’