President Donald Trump said Friday that he was unsure if he’d be able to end Russia’s war against Ukraine, a far cry from his promise to swiftly put a stop to the conflict that he made on the campaign trail.
“I don’t know. I can’t tell you whether or not that’s going to happen,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, when asked whether or not he’s confident that he’ll be able to find an end to the fighting.
When asked if ending the war was a priority, the president said, “Yes. I’d like to see it happen.”
Throughout the campaign, Trump pledged to end the fighting between the two countries on day one of entering office. He later backtracked in an interview with TIME Magazine, calling the pledge “an exaggeration.”
“We helped a lot of countries,” Trump said Friday. “The Ukraine situation — that’s a Biden deal. It’s not a Trump deal. I’m trying to get it finished off.”
Trump has sought to broker a peace agreement between the two countries. But in the past, he has threatened to walk away from the war, amid his increasing frustration with the continued fighting.
Trump spoke by phone with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week. His Thursday call with the Russian leader made “no progress,” he said hours after the two men spoke.
His conversation with Zelenskyy seemed more productive, according to a social media post by the Ukrainian president and the president’s readout to reporters. The two leaders, Zelenskyy said, had a “very important and fruitful conversation” in which they discussed Ukraine’s air defense, joint defense production and “mutual procurement and investment.”
Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Friday that “we had a very good call, I think a very strategic call.”
“I told you I was very unhappy with my call with President Putin,” he continued. “He wants to go all the way, just keep killing people, it’s no good.”
The Pentagon earlier this week paused some weapons shipments to Ukraine, citing concerns that U.S. ammunition has fallen too low, POLITICO first reported.
When asked about that pause on Thursday, Trump said: “We haven’t. We’re giving weapons. But we’ve given so many weapons. But we are giving weapons and we’re working with them and trying to help them. But we haven’t.”
