Trump says Putin is 'difficult' on Ukraine war, calls Russian leader 'misguided'
President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a NATO Summit.
- After five months in the White House, Trump said he thought the Russia-Ukraine war would have been "settled easy."
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he and Trump had a "long and substantive meeting" at the NATO summit in the Netherlands.
- Trump told reporters he would consider selling Patriot missiles to Ukraine to defend against Russian attacks.
WASHINGTON − President Donald Trump said it's "possible" that Vladimir Putin has ambitions beyond Ukraine as he closed out a NATO Summit, where allies identified Russia as one of the greatest long-term threats to the security of the alliance.
Trump also acknowledged it's been a more of slog negotiating an end to Russia's war on Ukraine than he predicted during the 2024 presidential campaign.
Putin has been "more difficult" to deal with than he anticipated, Trump said, adding he's also had "some problems" with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
"I consider him a person that's, I think, has been misguided," Trump said of Putin. "I'm very surprised, actually, I thought we would have had that settled easy."
Trump admitted that the conflict has been harder to solve than he initially thought after meeting with Zelenskyy, who he said "couldn't have been nicer." His remarks capped a shortened NATO meeting that placed less emphasis on Ukraine than during past summits to avoid friction with Trump.
A joint statement released by the alliance's 32 members reaffirmed support for Ukraine without mentioning the fight against Russia. The communique also avoided repeating a commitment to one day admit Ukraine into the alliance.
Trump says he'll consider selling Patriot missiles to Ukraine
Before his news conference Trump met with Zelenskyy behind closed doors. It was their first in-person conversation since April.
Zelenskyy said they discussed how to achieve a ceasefire with Russia. He described it a "long and substantive meeting" in a post on X.
"We covered all the truly important issues. I thank Mr. President, I thank the United States. We discussed how to achieve a ceasefire and a real peace. We spoke about how to protect our people. We appreciate the attention and the readiness to help bring peace closer," Zelenskyy said.
Trump said afterward at a press conference he would consider selling Patriot missiles to Ukraine that Zelenskyy has been offering to buy from the United States.
The Biden administration provided the air defense systems to Ukraine in U.S.-funded assistance packages.
"Ukraine is ready to buy this equipment and support American weapons manufacturers. Europe can help," Zelenskyy said after his meeting with Trump. "We also discussed the potential for co-production of drones. We can strengthen each other."
NATO reaffirms support for Ukraine
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and other world leaders defended the decision not mention Russia's war on Ukraine in an official statement at an array of June 25 news conferences.
The declaration referred to the "long-term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security," and noted NATO would now count members' military assistance to Ukraine as defense spending.
"Allies reaffirm their enduring sovereign commitments to provide support to Ukraine, whose security contributes to ours, and, to this end, will include direct contributions towards Ukraine’s defense and its defense industry when calculating Allies’ defense spending," the statement said.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the position of NATO "has not changed" and there is a "a real resolve" within the group to push Putin to agree to an unconditional ceasefire.
"If you're a long-term threat, you're also a short-term threat. So he is a threat now, and he is as a threat in long term," Rutte said.
Trump at his news conference said he told Putin during a call this month that he didn't want his help with Iran — he wanted him to settle his war with Ukraine.
"Vladimir Putin really has to end that war," Trump said.