Trump Says Ending the Ukraine War Is Harder Than Expected

The president said Russian President Vladimir Putin let him down.

President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a joint press conference.

Evan Vucci/AP

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he expected the war in Ukraine would be the “easiest” war to solve — an acknowledgement that his appeals to Russian President Vladimir Putin have yet to bear fruit.

“I’m very honored to tell you that we’ve solved seven wars,” Trump said during a joint press conference with the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “The one that I thought would be easiest would be because of my relationship with President Putin — 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.”

The president has framed himself as a peacemaker, even floating the idea of receiving a Nobel Prize, but has struggled to bring an end to wars in Gaza and Ukraine.