US President Donald Trump has said that he doubts Russia’s Vladimir Putin wants to end his war in Ukraine, expressing new scepticism that a peace deal can be reached soon.
He said in a social media post as he flew back to the United States after attending Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican, where he met briefly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The White House had described the 15-minute meeting as very productive. Mr Zelensky called it very symbolic, with the potential to become historic.
Mr Trump wrote in the post that there was no reason for Mr Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns over the last few days.
The comments also sharply contrasted with Trump’s positive assessment that the two sides were “very close to a deal” after his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Putin in Moscow on Friday.
