President Donald Trump said Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin “let him down” in efforts to end the war in Ukraine. He admitted the conflict has turned out to be more difficult to resolve than he first believed.
“The one that I thought would be easiest would be because of my relationship with President Putin,” Trump told reporters at a joint press conference with United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London. “But he’s let me down. He’s really let me down. Was going to be Russia and Ukraine. But we’ll see how that turns out.”
Trump, who has made peace talks a priority, said months of U.S.-led negotiations, including an Alaska summit with Putin, have not led to breakthroughs. He called the war “a different thing” than anticipated. He noted that leaders can think they will have an “easy time or a hard time, and it turns out to be the reverse.”
Trump also condemned the human toll of the fighting. “He’s killing many people, and he’s losing more people than he’s killing,” he said of Putin. “The Russian soldiers are being killed at a higher rate than the Ukrainian soldiers, but, yeah, he’s let me down. I don’t like to see — it’s death.”
The president added that while the war “doesn’t affect the United States” directly, “millions of people have died in that war. And they’re not American soldiers. But I feel I have an obligation to get it settled for that reason.”
Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy may meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly next week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. Putin is not expected to attend.
At the same press conference, Starmer said Putin had “shown his true face” with repeated missile strikes on Ukraine, adding that the West must increase pressure on Moscow.
Starmer confirmed he and Trump discussed pushing European nations to reduce their reliance on Russian energy, saying, “There are a number of European countries who are too reliant on energy from Russia. We do need to bear down and work with our European counterparts.”
Ukraine continues to press for more support.
On Wednesday, Zelenskyy announced that his country would soon receive Patriot and HIMARS missile systems, with funding of about $3.5 billion coming from European allies under a U.S.-managed procurement program.
The program, called the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL), pools allied contributions to purchase advanced weapons from American defense companies.
Trump has shifted U.S. policy to rely on allied contributions rather than additional congressional appropriations, a move that allows Ukraine’s arsenal to be sustained while limiting the burden on American taxpayers.
A senior administration official said the program fits Trump’s “America First” priorities and is designed to bring the war to an end after what the official called “Joe Biden’s incompetence.”
Meanwhile, Trump clarified comments he made weeks earlier about helping Ukraine “by air.” In an interview with Fox News’ Martha MacCallum, he explained he was referring to postwar security measures: “So after the war is settled, we would help secure the peace.”
King Charles also acknowledged Trump’s diplomacy at a state banquet on Wednesday, saying, “Today, as tyranny once again threatens Europe, we and our allies stand together in support of Ukraine, to deter aggression and secure peace.”
Thursday’s press conference closed Trump’s second state visit to the United Kingdom, the first time an elected leader has received such an honor.