By Rounak Bagchi
Copyright timesnownews
US President Donald Trump accused his Vladimir Putin of betraying his trust on Thursday, delivering some of his sharpest criticism yet of the Russian leader. “I thought it would be easy to negotiate a truce between Russia and Ukraine because of my relationship with President Putin,” Trump said during a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “But he’s let me down, he’s really let me down.” The comments came at the close of a two-day state visit to Britain. While Trump largely sidestepped contentious disagreements with his British host, his rebuke of Putin appeared to offer London the public show of unity it had hoped for. “He’s killing many people, and he’s losing more people than he’s killing,” Trump said. “The Russian soldiers are being killed at a higher rate than the Ukrainian soldiers.” Trump has long touted his rapport with Putin and, at times, cast blame for the war on Ukraine’s leaders or on his predecessor, Joe Biden. However, in recent weeks, he has shifted his stance, identifying Russia as the aggressor. On Thursday, his ire was directed entirely at Moscow. “I spoke to President Putin about Ukraine. It was the apple of his eye,” he recalled. “But he would have never done what he did, except that he didn’t respect the leadership of the United States.” Trump’s remarks stood out against the otherwise conciliatory tone of his public appearances alongside Starmer. He praised Britain’s royal family, describing King Charles III and Queen Camilla as “two fantastic people,” and lauded the United Kingdom as “these beautiful, magnificent isles.” Trump, however, created some discomfort by suggesting that Starmer could use the military to curb irregular migration, calling small-boat arrivals a threat that “destroys countries from within.” Starmer, for his part, focused instead on Ukraine, pressing Trump to tighten sanctions on Moscow. “It’s only when the president has put pressure on Putin that he’s actually shown any inclination to move,” Starmer said. Trump declined to commit to new sanctions, instead pointing to Russian oil sales abroad. “If the price of oil comes down, Putin is going to drop out,” he said. “He’s going to have no choice.” A Shift on Russia The White House has often struggled to reconcile Trump’s posture toward Russia with longstanding US policy. As a President, Trump has celebrated his personal relationship with Putin, and he once suggested he could end the war in Ukraine swiftly by brokering talks. Trump’s criticism also stood in contrast to his reluctance to engage on other sensitive issues. He declined to answer a question about free speech in Britain and brushed off inquiries about Peter Mandelson, the Labour peer, claiming not to know him despite past meetings. Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from US News and around the World.
