Donald Trump claimed in a Tuesday interview with ABC News that Russian President Vladimir Putin “would have taken all of Ukraine” had he not won reelection in November.
Last week, Trump issued a rare rebuke of Putin over Russia’s deadly attack on Kyiv, while also later suggesting that the Russian leader may not be serious about wanting peace after Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome.
“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?’” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account at the time.
Trump told ABC’s Terry Moran that while he still believed this could hold true, Putin may want to end the war.
“He could be tapping me along a little bit,” Trump said. “I would say that he would like to stop the war.”
During their 15-minute face-to-face meeting Saturday, Zelenskyy asked Trump to adopt a harsher stance toward Putin, with the U.S. president conceding he may have to do so, according to Axios.
But some of his allies, including his envoy Steve Witkoff, who has met Putin several times, seem supportive of bringing Russia and the U.S. closer.
Putin “sees the opportunity for the first time in decades, to recalibrate the relationship of the Russian Federation with the United States, and it’s clear,” Witkoff told WABC.
Trump deflected a question on whether he trusts his Russian counterpart in his interview with ABC.
“I don’t trust you,” he told Moran. “I don’t trust a lot of people.”
Still, he noted that his relationship with Putin may convince the authoritarian leader to somewhat back down from his imperial ambitions.
“Let’s say he respects me,” he said. “And I believe because of me he’s not gonna take over the whole” of Ukraine.
Trump did not rule out cutting off support for Ukraine if a peace deal isn’t agreed on.
“I don’t want to tell you that. I’m not gonna tell you whether or not I would or not,” Trump said. “I want to leave that as a big, fat secret, because I don’t want to ruin a negotiation.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine seems ready to sign the much-anticipated rare earth minerals deal with the U.S. on Wednesday, according to The Associated Press.
A version of this agreement was meant to be signed by Trump and Zelenskyy in Washington in late February. However, the signing didn’t go forward after their meeting in the Oval Office went off the rails.