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Trump Says He Didn’t Discuss War With Zelenskyy, Plans to Speak With Putin
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![Photo of Dariia Mykhailenko]( "Photo of Dariia Mykhailenko")
US President Donald Trump commented on his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which took place during the NATO summit in The Hague June 25.
Speaking at a press conference, Trump revealed that he did not discuss the war in Ukraine during the meeting, but rather wanted to check in on how Zelenskyy was doing, a UNITED24 Media correspondent reported.
“He’s very nice actually. We had little rough times sometimes, he couldn’t be nicer,” Trump said. “I think he’d like to see the end of this, I do. What I took from the meeting—it couldn’t be nicer actually—I took from the meeting that he would like to see the end. I think it's a great time to end it.”
Trump added that he intends to reach out to Putin to discuss ending the war.
“I’m gonna speak to Vladimir Putin, see if we gonna end it. The brave people, they are fighting his war all over the place. Last week I guess, I told you, close to 7,000 young soldiers—Russian and Ukrainian soldiers—were killed. It’s crazy. So I’ll be speaking to Putin.”
When asked whether Putin has territorial ambitions beyond Ukraine, Trump said: “Possible. That’s possible. I know one thing—he’d like to settle, he’d like to get out of these things, it’s a mess for him. He called another day and said: ‘Can I help you with Iran?’ I said: ‘No, you can help me with Russia.’”
Trump also described the Russian leader as "a person that’s been misguided."
“But I had a good meeting with Zelenskyy. He’s fighting a brave battle, it’s tough battle,” US President added.
Trump also responded to a question about whether the United States is ready to sell Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine.
“They do want to have AA missiles, the Patriots. We’re gonna see if we can make some available. They are very hard to get. We need them too. We were supplying them to Israel and they are very effective, 100% effective, hard to believe how effective. They do want them more than other thing.”
Earlier, Zelenskyy called the meeting “substantive,” saying the two leaders addressed critical issues, including how to end Russia’s war against Ukraine and ensure the protection of civilians.
