U.S. President Donald Trump on the 3rd (local time) mentioned the war in Ukraine and expressed dissatisfaction with Russian President Vladimir Putin while announcing a U.S. military operation to capture and extradite Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
According to Reuters, at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, when a reporter asked whether he was angry with Putin, President Trump said, "I'm not thrilled with Putin. He kills too many people."
When asked whether he discussed President Maduro during a call with President Putin on the 29th of last month, he answered, "We didn't talk about Maduro at all."
He also said that countless young people are meeting brutal deaths because of the war in Ukraine, adding, "I don't like it. It needs to be solved. This war is bloody. I want it to stop," he emphasized repeatedly.
Trump pointed out that he inherited a war situation that was made a mess by former President Joe Biden, Putin, and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. He added that the latest U.S. military operation in Venezuela was precise and excellent, and said, "If our team had been involved, the war in Ukraine wouldn't have lasted that long."
Ukraine outlet the Kyiv Post noted that Trump emphasized the scale of the war's damage without flaunting familiarity with Putin, interpreting it as, "Putin will be reminded that ignoring warnings from Washington could exact a price beyond the battlefield."
The Kyiv Post said, "There is still an empty chapter in the U.S. strategy book, and Putin will be reminded that ignoring warnings from Washington could exact a price beyond the battlefield in Ukraine."