Russia has stepped up its bombardment of Ukraine in recent weeks, despite a successful prisoner swap conducted late last week.
Trump, who has previously been an open admirer of Putin, has become more critical of the Russian president amid the drone and missile attacks, calling him “CRAZY” and opining that he is “playing with fire.”
When asked about his decision to not impose new sanctions on Russia, he said: “If I think I’m close to getting a deal I don’t want to screw it up by doing that, let me tell you, I’m a lot tougher than the people you’re talking about, but you have to know when to use that.”
“If I think it’s going to hurt a deal — this isn’t my war, this is Biden’s war, Zelenskyy’s war, Putin’s war. This isn’t Trump’s war.”
Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides of the conflict have been killed.
Earlier Wednesday, the U.N. concluded that Russia has been systematically committing war crimes against civilians in Ukraine’s Kherson region.
