President Trump acknowledged that Russian President Vladimir Putin may be “tapping me along” following another round of missile strikes in Ukraine.
Such frustration with Mr. Putin comes after Mr. Trump slammed his Russian counterpart for bombing Kyiv this week. That anger with Mr. Putin quickly turned into irritation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whom Mr. Trump admonished for not signing a long-awaited mineral deal.
“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Mr. Trump said on social media. “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
Mr. Trump’s comments on Saturday came as he returned from Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome, where he and Mr. Zelenskyy had their first face-to-face meeting since the explosive sit-down in the Oval Office in February.
The White House has been pushing for a truce in the war. Yet Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week during a stop in Paris that the U.S. may “move on” if no immediate peace progress is made.
Mr. Zelenskyy posted on X following the meeting that he and Mr. Trump “discussed a lot one-on-one” in the Vatican.
“Hoping for results on everything we covered,” the Ukrainian president said. “Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results. Thank you [President Trump].”
Mr. Trump had upped his criticism of Mr. Zelenskyy this week when he wrote on social media that if the Ukrainian president wanted Crimea, the Ukrainian territory annexed by Russia a decade ago, he should fight for it.
He sharpened that point in an interview with Time magazine, where he blamed Ukraine’s desire for wanting to join NATO as being the spark that started the war and contended that “Crimea will stay with Russia.”
“Everybody understands that it’s been with them for a long time. It’s been with them long before Trump came along,” the president said.
Much of Mr. Trump’s Saturday post was not dedicated to Mr. Putin, but rather New York Times reporter Peter Baker for claiming Crimea was a sticking point in peace negotiations.
“’Liddle’ Peter Baker, the very biased and untalented writer for The Times, followed his Editor’s demands and wrote that Ukraine should get back territory, including, I suppose, Crimea, and other ridiculous requests, in order to stop the killing that is worse than anything since World War II,” Mr. Trump said.
The Washington Times reached out to the NYT for comment.
Mr. Trump accused former President Barack Obama for “making it possible” for Russia to seize Crimea without “a shot even being fired” and called the conflict “Sleepy Joe Biden’s War, not mine.”
“It was a loser from day one, and should have never happened, and wouldn’t have happened if I were President at the time,” he said. “I’m just trying to clean up the mess that was left to me by Obama and Biden, and what a mess it is.”
