Donald Trump has been challenged on his claim that he would end the war in Ukraine on the first day of his presidency.
The president insisted that he was being sarcastic when he made the pledge during the presidential election campaign.
And he confessed that fulfilling the promise had been tougher than he expected.
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Speaking at the NATO summit after a short meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump also suggested he didn’t mean to make such a bold pledge in the first place.
“Of course I was being sarcastic,” Trump said, only to be reminded by a reporter that he was now months into his presidency.
“But you’ve now been in office for five months and five days, why have you not been able to end the Ukraine war?” the reporter asked.
“Because it’s more difficult than people would have any idea,” Trump replied. “Vladimir Putin has been more difficult. Frankly, I had some problems with Zelensky, you may have read about him. And it’s been more difficult than other wars.”
The pledge to stop the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office was made repeatedly by Trump on the campaign trail.
As the war dragged on, MAGA Republicans also became increasingly reluctant to continue assisting Ukraine with military aid as the small nation tried to defend its sovereignty.
“If it’s not solved, I will have it solved in 24 hours with Zelensky and with Putin,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity as far back as two years ago.
But since coming to office, Moscow has repeatedly slowed progress, agreeing only to narrow truces, such as halting its attacks on energy infrastructure or in the Black Sea, while pushing for territorial concessions for Russia.
Relations between Zelensky and the White House also soured earlier this year, when the president and Vice President J.D. Vance berated the Ukrainian leader in the Oval Office, accusing him of not showing enough gratitude to the US for supporting his country.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Trump said, “it is possible” Russian President Vladimir Putin might have “territorial ambitions” beyond Ukraine.
“I know one thing. He would like to settle. He would like to get out of this thing. It’s a mess for him,” Trump said.
“He called the other day [and] said: Can I help you with Iran? I said no, you can help me with Russia.”
Asked about his closed-door meeting with Zelensky on the sidelines of today’s summit, Trump said the Ukrainian president “couldn’t have been nicer”.
He said they did not discuss details of a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war, but stressed their desire to end the war swiftly.
“I just wanted to know how he’s doing,” Trump told reporters. “It was very nice, actually. We had a little rough times. He couldn’t have been nicer. I think he’d like to see an end to this.”
