President Trump ramped up his criticism of Vladimir Putin, saying the Russian president talks “bulls—-” and offers “meaningless” gestures while refusing to end his attack on Ukraine.
“A lot of people are dying and it should end,” Mr. Trump said during a White House Cabinet meeting Tuesday. “We get a lot of bulls—- thrown at us by Putin — [if] you want to know the truth, he’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”
Mr. Trump expanded his criticism of Mr. Putin in recent months after initially offering an olive branch to his Russian counterpart. The two leaders spoke by phone in June and again in July, but Mr. Trump said the calls were not productive as the three-year war between Russian and Ukraine rages on.
Speaking at a dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, Mr. Trump said he was disappointed with Mr. Putin and reversed a Pentagon decision to withhold weapons from Ukraine.
“We’re not happy with Putin. I’m not happy with Putin. I can tell you that much right now. Because he’s killing a lot of people. And a lot of them are his soldiers,” Mr. Trump said at the Cabinet meeting.
The president also vowed to give Ukrainians “the best equipment ever made.”
