President Trump lashed out Tuesday at Russia’s Vladimir Putin for “throwing bulls–t at us” and claimed he didn’t know who ordered a quick pause in protection help to Ukraine final week.
In a dramatic shift in tone, Trump accused Putin of spewing double discuss on Ukraine and sounded way more supportive of embattled Kyiv.
“We get a lot of bulls–t thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,” Trump informed reporters throughout a televised cupboard assembly on the White Home. “He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”
Trump added that he now sees Putin as being a major impediment to ending the struggle in Ukraine.
“I’m not happy with Putin. I can tell you that much right now, because he’s killing a lot of people,” Trump mentioned, including that Putin is “not treating human beings right.”
“It’s turned out to be tougher,” he mentioned as he spoke about his efforts to sweet-talk Putin into ending his invasion of neighboring Ukraine after greater than three years of brutal warfare.
Trump mentioned he determined to reverse a pause in protection assist to Ukraine that was applied final week.
However he mentioned he didn’t know who determined to place the help on maintain within the first place.
“I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?” he mentioned to a reporter who requested whose determination it was.
The assaults on Putin mark a dramatic shift from Trump, who has spent years defending the Kremlin strongman. He has repeatedly referred to as Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy the primary impediment to ending the battle.
Putin has stubbornly snubbed Trump’s demand for a ceasefire, a plea Zelenskyy shortly agreed to.
Trump held a cellphone name with Putin final week that yielded no progress. He mentioned a later name with Zelenskyy went properly, apparently resulting in the resumption of assist.
“(Russia is) killing too many people, so we’re sending some defensive weapons to Ukraine,” Trump mentioned.
Trump’s reversal on Putin comes as Russia presses ahead with a summer season offensive on the frontlines of the battle in japanese Ukraine and with a stepped-up marketing campaign of missile and drone assaults on civilian targets.
Russia watchers have warned for years that Putin has no intention of abandoning his goal of gobbling up a giant chunk of Ukrainian territory, particularly now that his troops are on the entrance foot.
