By Bryana Francis
Copyright walesonline
US President Donald Trump told reporters he had been “really let down” by Vladimir Putin as him and Keir Starmer discussed their shared ambition to bring peace to Ukraine as the historic second state visit drew to an end. As the pair conducted a joint press conference at Chequers , Trump explained how he had thought solving the Russia-Ukraine war would’ve been the “easiest”. However, he explained he had instead been let down by Putin despite their relationship. He added: “He’s killing many people.” Trump said: “I want to congratulate the United Kingdom on making the vital commitment to spend 5% of GDP on defence at the Nato summit this year. We’ve worked together very closely in so many ways. “I’m very honoured to tell you that we’ve solved seven wars, seven wars, wars that were unsolvable, wars that couldn’t be negotiated or done, the US has done seven of them. “The one that I thought would be easiest …because of my relationship with President Putin, but he’s let me down. “He’s really let me down … I thought it might be among the easiest of the group.” For the biggest stories in Wales first, sign up to our daily newsletter here. Mr Starmer added how the two countries are working together to end the killing in Ukraine by putting pressure on Putin to agree a peace deal. Mr Trump continued: “He has let me down. I mean, he’s killing many people and he’s losing more people than he’s, you know, than he’s killing. I mean, frankly, Russian soldiers are being killed at a higher rate than the Ukrainian soldiers. But, yeah, he’s let me down.” The president said he thought the situation in Ukraine could’ve escalated to a third world war but believes it’s no longer heading that way due to a step up by both Europe and the US in recent months. Starmer added: “We have built the coalition of the willing with British leadership and French leadership, stepping up with military planning in the seas, in the sky, on the ground and ramping up what we do with the Ukrainians themselves.” His American counterpart was also of the opinion the war never would have started if Putin respected the leadership of the United States at the time, a dig at Joe Biden. On the other hand, the US President was full of praise for Prime Minister Keir Starmer. He ended the press conference by saying that the UK and US have a relationship “like no other”. “We will always be united, we will always be together,” Mr Trump added, as he thanked Mr Starmer for the “great job he is doing”.
