President Donald Trump says he "didn't make any progress" on a potential ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in his call Thursday with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
"We had a call. It was a pretty long call. We talked about a lot of things, including Iran, and we also talked about, as you know, the war with Ukraine. And I'm not happy about that, I'm not happy," Trump told reporters at an air base outside Washington before leaving for a campaign-style event in Iowa.
U.S. attempts to end Russia's war in Ukraine through diplomacy have largely stalled, and Trump has faced growing calls — including from some Republicans — to increase pressure on Putin to negotiate in earnest.
Within hours of the call's conclusion, an apparent Russian drone attack sparked a fire in an apartment building in a northern suburb of Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said, indicating little change in the trajectory of the conflict.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, told reporters in Denmark earlier in the day that he hopes to speak to Trump as soon as Friday about the ongoing pause in some weapons shipments, which was first disclosed earlier this week.
Trump told reporters "we haven't" completely paused the weapons flow but blamed his predecessor, Joe Biden, for sending so many weapons that it risked weakening U.S. defenses.
"We're giving weapons, but we've given so many weapons. But we are giving weapons. And we're working with them and trying to help them, but we haven't. You know, Biden emptied out our whole country giving them weapons, and we have to make sure that we have enough for ourselves," he said.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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