U.S. President Donald Trump expressed fresh skepticism on Saturday about Vladimir Putin’s intentions to end the war in Ukraine, suggesting that the Russian president might be deceiving him. This marks a sharp shift from just a day earlier when Trump had said Ukraine and Russia were “very close to a peace deal.”
“There was no reason for Putin to launch missile attacks on civilian areas, towns, and cities over the past few days,” Trump wrote in a social media post as he returned to the United States after attending Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican, where he had a brief meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Trump also hinted at the possibility of imposing additional sanctions against Russia.
“It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, that he’s simply deceiving me, and that he should be dealt with differently — through ‘Bank Sanctions’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions’? So many people are dying!!!” Trump added.
This shift in tone comes after a tense week of diplomatic activity, and signals growing frustration in Washington over the lack of progress toward ending the conflict.
