Journalists repeatedly asked Trump about his promises to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and reminded him he had promised to do so on his first day in office.
“I have another half of the day left,” Trump joked, then added he wants to get it wrapped up soon.
Trump said Putin couldn’t be happy with the slow progress of his war against Ukraine — nearly three years after he ordered an all-out assault, and 11 years after disguised Russian troops first entered Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.
“He’s grinding it out. Most people thought it would last about one week and now you’re into three years. It is not making him look good,” Trump said.
“We have numbers that almost a million Russian soldiers have been killed. About 700,000 Ukrainian soldiers are killed. Russia’s bigger, they have more soldiers to lose but that’s no way to run a country,” he added.
Ukraine has previously denied Trump’s total, claiming it has lost more than 43,000 soldiers killed in action, and more than 370,000 wounded. The Kremlin does not reveal its official number of casualties, but Ukraine estimates that in 2024 alone Russia lost 150,000 soldiers killed and more than 400,000 wounded.
