President Donald Trump delivered some of his sharpest-ever criticism of Vladimir Putin and said the U.S. is resuming deliveries of weapons to Ukraine to counter Russian attacks on civilians.
Speaking at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, the president said he was “not happy” with the Russian president, who he accused of “killing a lot of people” including many of his own soldiers to the tune of “7,000 a week.”
Trump said there is “no reason” for Russia’s continued attacks on Ukraine and complained that reaching a ceasefire in the three-year-old war Putin launched has been “tougher” than expected, while crediting Kyiv’s forces for bravery as they’ve battled back Russia’s invasion.
“I will say the Ukrainians were brave, but we gave them the best equipment ever made … we gave them missiles, the latest and the greatest. They were able to shoot down a lot of things that would have normally wiped out,” he said.
The president also acknowledged that many of his supporters might consider it “unfair” that the U.S. has spent billions for weapons bound for Ukraine while still crediting Ukrainians for exhibiting valor while using their American-made military supplies against Russia.
“I will say this, the Ukrainians, whether you think it’s unfair that we gave all that money or not, they were very brave, because somebody had to operate that stuff. And a lot of people I know wouldn’t be operating it, they wouldn’t have the courage to do it. So they fought very bravely, but we gave them the the best equipment in the world,” he said.
Continuing, Trump said that Putin, with whom he has had a relatively close relationship compared with many of America’s allies, has “thrown a lot of bulls***” at him while continuing to prosecute the war he started without provocation in 2022.
“It’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless,” he said.
He later added that Putin was “not treating human beings right” and is “killing too many people” in Ukraine.
“So we’re sending some defensive weapons to Ukraine, and I’ve approved that,” he said.
Trump’s comments came less than 24 hours after he said the U.S. would resume weapons shipments to Kyiv amid ongoing Russian aerial attacks, just days after the Pentagon halted shipments to review whether current stockpiles were sufficient for American defense needs.
Speaking during a dinner Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of their respective staffs, Trump was asked if he planned to send more weapons for use by Kyiv.
He replied affirmatively, telling reporters: “We’re going to send some more weapons.”
“We have to, they have to be able to defend themselves,” he added.
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