US President Donald Trump said he was disappointed but not finished with Kremlin head Vladimir Putin, in an interview with the BBC, writes UNN.
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The US President was pressed on whether he trusted the Russian leader, and he replied: "I trust almost no one."
Trump spoke hours after announcing plans to supply weapons to Ukraine and warning of severe tariffs on Russia if a ceasefire agreement was not reached within 50 days.
In an interview from the Oval Office, the US President, having just met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, dedicated a significant part of the interview to discussing his disappointment with the Russian leader.
Trump said he thought four times that a deal with Russia was possible.
When asked by the BBC if he was finished with Putin, the US President replied: "I'm disappointed in him, but I'm not finished with him. But I'm disappointed in him."
When asked how Trump would make Putin "stop the bloodshed," the US President replied: "We're working on it."
"We'll have a great conversation. I'll say, 'Okay, I think we're close to finishing,' and then he'll blow up a house in Kyiv," Trump said.
The conversation turned to NATO, which Trump had previously criticized as "obsolete."
When asked if he still thought so, he replied: "No. I think NATO is now becoming the complete opposite," because the alliance "is paying its own way."
He said he still believed in collective defense because it allows small countries to defend themselves against large ones.