Putin has let me down: Donald Trump on Russia-Ukraine war

United States US President Donald Trump said his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin has let him down by not stopping the war in Ukraine news agency ANI reportedldquoHe has let me down I mean hes killing many people and hes losing more people than hes you know than hes killing I mean frankly Russian soldiers are being killed at a higher rate than the Ukrainian soldiersrdquo Trump said during a news conference with United Kingdom UK Prime Minister Keir StarmerTrump added that he initially believed the RussiaUkraine War would be the ldquoeasiestrdquo conflict to resolve but it turned out otherwise He also claimed that the war would not have begun if he had remained in the White House after the 2020 elections ANI reportedldquoThis was a thing that would have never happened had I been president If I were president it would have never happened And it didnt happen for four yearsrdquo he said adding ldquoMost people agree it didnt happen nor was it close to happeningrdquoDespite a summit in Alaska where Trump urged Putin to hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky no peace deal materialised Russia launched a largescale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 aiming to ldquodemilitarize and deNazifyrdquo the country according to PutinThe RussiaUkraine conflict which began in 2014 with Russiarsquos annexation of Crimea escalated into fullscale war in 2022 Ukraine has launched counteroffensives in the south and northeast while Russia has captured key areas including Mariupol and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk In August 2024 Ukraine launched an incursion into Russiarsquos Kursk Oblast The UN reports over 10000 civilian deaths with millions displacedIn his opening remarks Starmer praised UKUS ties and said both countries are ldquoready to define this century togetherrdquo The leaders also announced a new ldquotech prosperity dealrdquo CNN reported Starmer added that Russiarsquos attacks show Putin is not interested in peace and that they discussed ways to ldquoincrease the pressure on him to agree a peace deal that will lastrdquoTrump also criticised the North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO and European nations for buying oil from Russia stating ldquoTheyre not doing the job NATO has to get together Europe has to get together Europe is my friend but Europe is buying oil from Russia I dont want them to buy oil And the sanctions that theyre putting on are not tough enough And Im willing to do sanctions but theyre going to have to toughen up their sanctions commensurate with what Im doingrdquoHe also opposed European imports of Russian liquefied natural gas reported ANIldquoIts not the deal though The deal is theyre not supposed whether its natural gas or whether its cigarettes I dont care Theyre not supposed to be buying from Russiardquo Trump saidThe US President further wrote a letter to NATO nations stating ldquoI am ready to do major sanctions on Russia when all NATO nations have agreed and started to do the same thing and when all NATO nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIArdquoAdditionally he proposed imposing tariffs of 50ndash100 per cent on ChinaldquoI believe that this plus NATO as a group placing 50 per cent to 100 per cent TARIFFS ON CHINA to be fully withdrawn after the WAR with Russia and Ukraine is ended will also be of great help in ENDING this deadly but RIDICULOUS WARrdquo Trump wrote adding ldquoChina has a strong control and even grip over Russia and these powerful Tariffs will break that griprdquoWith ANI inputs