US President Donald Trump claimed that his Russian counterpart let him down during the process of solving the Ukraine war. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer also criticised Putin and said that he showed his “true face” with his biggest attack since the invasion.
Addressing a joint press conference with Starmer at Chequers, he confessed that even though he thought that the Russia-Ukraine war would be the “easiest” one to solve, it was not the case, however he said that he will ultimately resolve it.
Despite a summit between Putin and Trump at Alaska, during which the US leader urged the Russian president to hold talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, a peace deal did not materialise.
“I thought the Russia-Ukraine war was the easiest to stop but Putin has let me down. I thought it may be easiest. As you know, we are working for a solution for Israel and Gaza, we are working to solve so many conflicts, we will get Israel-Gaza done, likewise, Russia and Ukraine will also be done, but you never know in war,” Trump said.
He added, “I mean, frankly, Russian soldiers are being killed at a higher rate than the Ukrainian soldiers. But, yeah, he’s let me down.”
Before taking office, Trump had claimed that he would halt the war between Moscow and Kyiv in a day.
Trump also suggested that Putin started the war in 2022 because “he didn’t respect the leadership of the United States” at the time.
“If I were president, it would have never happened, and it didn’t happen for four years. People, most people, agree. It didn’t happen, nor was it close to happening,” he said.
The conference comes on the final day of the US leader’s state visit to Britain.
“In recent days, Putin has shown his true face mounting the biggest attack since the invasion began, with yet more bloodshed, yet more innocents killed, and unprecedented violations of NATO airspace,” Starmer said. “These are not the actions of someone who wants peace. So we’ve discussed today how we can build our defences to further support Ukraine, and decisively increase the pressure on Putin to get him to agree to a peace deal that will last,” he added.
The two leaders inked a major deal on tech investment that officials say will bring thousands of jobs and billions in investment in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and nuclear energy. Starmer called the deal a “groundbreaking” one and said that it is the largest investment package in British history.