Trump turns on Putin in dramatic U-turn as he rages ‘I’m very disappointed’ | World | News
Donald Trump expressed his disappointment with Vladimir Putin when asked if he would consider trying to capture the Russian leader. The US President chaired a meeting with oil and gas executives at the White House on January 9.
While the main focus of the event was to discuss the presence of U.S. oil and gas companies in Venezuela, Mr. Trump also answered a range of questions, from his desire to buy Greenland to the ongoing war in Ukraine. After the operation carried out by Washington, in which Venezuelan socialist leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife were taken from their home in Caracas and brought before a federal judge in Manhattan, a reporter asked him if he could “catch Vladimir Putin.”
While he said he did not think similar action against the Russian President would be necessary, he also acknowledged that he was disappointed by the Kremlin’s apparent reluctance to agree on a just peace deal that would end the war in Ukraine.
He said: “I don’t think it will be necessary. I think it will be necessary… I’ve always had a great relationship with him, I’m very disappointed.”
The US President reiterated his claim that he has “solved eight wars” since returning to the White House in January, adding that he thought bringing peace to Ukraine, which was unlawfully occupied by Russian troops in February 2022, would be “one of the easiest” of these tasks.
Mr. Trump often spoke of his warm relationship with Putin; This was also evident when the two presidents met in Alaska in August.
In the past, he held Joe Biden, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, responsible for the illegal war.
This is not the first time he has been hostile to Putin today. At a joint press conference with Sir Keir Starmer at the climax of his two-day state visit to the UK in September, Mr Trump said Mr Putin had “disappointed me”.
He added: “It kills many people and loses more than it kills. Russian soldiers are killed at a higher rate than Ukrainian soldiers.”
He also admitted that he thought it would be easier to negotiate peace between Russia and Ukraine, given his relationship with the Kremlin leader, but added that “he disappointed me, he really disappointed me.”
