The US President Donald Trump is irritated with both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
This is reported by The New York Times, citing Trumpʼs advisors.
Trump is “particularly hostile” to Zelensky, advisers say. The US president has repeatedly told his aides that Zelensky is “a bad guy who is pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war”. But Trump has also said he understands why Zelensky is resisting — because he is waging a war against Russia, which plans to continue bombing Ukrainian cities.
At the same time, Trump tends to treat Putin with great respect, although he sometimes “expresses disappointment”. Trump probably previously believed that his “very, very good relationship” with Putin would help end the war quickly, but this did not happen. According to the NYT, Trump considered the possibility of imposing additional sanctions on Russia, but has so far refrained from doing so.
In late May, Trump said that Putin had gone “absolutely crazy” and was “killing people unnecessarily”, but on June 4 he spoke to him again by phone. In the conversation, Putin threatened to retaliate against Ukraine for the attack on Russian strategic bombers on June 1, but it is not known whether Trump tried to dissuade him. The US president said that he wanted Putin’s help in reaching a nuclear deal with Iran. He called the conversation itself “a good one, but not one that will lead to peace”.
What preceded
On May 19, Trump held a series of talks with the leaders of Ukraine, the EU, and Russia. Before his call with Putin, he called Zelensky to ask what topics to raise. According to media reports, the Ukrainian president asked to discuss a 30-day ceasefire and an upcoming meeting between Zelensky and Putin, which Trump could join.
Trumpʼs conversation with Putin lasted more than 2 hours. Following the conversation, Putin stated that he was ready to work on a memorandum with Ukraine, which includes a ceasefire, and Trump said that the terms of the memorandum should be discussed only between Ukraine and Russia.
Zelensky, following the talks, said that Ukraine would not withdraw troops from territories partially occupied by the Russians. Earlier, media reported that Russia had made such a demand on May 16 at talks in Istanbul in exchange for a ceasefire.
Later, the US president directly stated for the first time that Putin was not ready to end the war against Ukraine. He made this statement in a conversation with European leaders who had not heard such rhetoric from their American counterpart before.
In Truth Social, Trump wrote that the Kremlin leader has “absolutely gone crazy” and is “killing people unnecessarily”. This is how the American president reacted to Russia’s massive attacks on the night of May 24, 25, and 26.
The WSJ sources said on May 26 that Donald Trump could impose sanctions on Moscow within weeks as he grows increasingly frustrated with Russiaʼs attacks on Ukraine and the slow pace of peace talks. But that has not happened yet.
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