WASHINGTON: Donald Trump on Monday said he expects Russian President Vladimir Putin “to fulfill his part“ of a deal to end the Ukraine war, after the US president voiced doubts over Moscow's commitment.
“I want to make sure that he follows through,“ Trump told reporters in the White House. “I think he’s going to live up to what he told me, and I think he’s going to fulfill his part of the deal now.”
Trump on Sunday criticized both Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, as he pushes to end more than three years of conflict in Ukraine.
Trump told NBC he was “very angry” at Putin for questioning Zelensky's credibility as someone to negotiate with and for calling for new leadership in Ukraine.
Putin earlier this month rejected a US proposal of an unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine -- that Zelensky backed -- and has upped his rhetoric on Moscow wanting to install new leadership in Ukraine.
On Sunday, NBC News journalist Kristen Walker said Trump had called her to say he was “pissed off” with Putin and threatened tariffs on firms dealing with Russian oil.
The US leader later turned his ire on Zelensky, warning him Ukraine would have “big problems” if it got cold feet over a deal to sign over mineral rights to the United States.
The Kremlin on Monday said that Putin was still open to speaking to Trump.
There was no phone call scheduled between the two leaders, but that one could be “organized promptly,“ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“We are... working on implementing some ideas, linked to resolving the Ukrainian (conflict),“ Peskov said. “This process is time-consuming.”
