By Kanishka Singh and Ryan Patrick Jones
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he was “very disappointed” in Russian President Vladimir Putin and added without elaborating that his administration was planning to take some actions to bring down deaths in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The Republican leader also said he was not concerned about warm ties between Russia and China.
Trump held a summit with Putin in Alaska in mid-August and subsequently met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and key European and NATO alliance leaders at the White House.
Following those meetings, Trump said he expected Zelenskiy and Putin to hold a bilateral meeting before a trilateral meeting that would also include Trump. Zelenskiy has said Russia was doing everything it could to prevent a meeting between him and Putin, while Russia says the agenda for such a meeting was not ready.
“I am very disappointed in President Putin, I can say that, and we will be doing something to help people live,” Trump said in an interview on The Scott Jennings Radio Show.
Trump has told Zelenskiy that Washington would help guarantee Ukraine’s security in any deal. Trump has also renewed a threat to impose further sanctions on Russia if there is no progress toward a peaceful settlement in Ukraine.
Russia occupies around a fifth of Ukraine, and Trump has said “land-swapping” and changes to territory will be crucial for any settlement.
Ukraine opposes the idea of legally recognizing any Ukrainian territory as Russian. But it has tacitly acknowledged it will almost certainly have to accept some de facto territorial losses.
Trump was also asked in the interview if he was concerned “about an axis forming against the United States with China and Russia.”
Trump said: “I am not concerned at all.” He added: “We have the strongest military in the world, by far. They would never use their military on us. Believe me.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted Putin for talks in China, calling him his “old friend.”
Xi also held talks on Monday with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose country has been targeted by Trump over its purchases of Russian oil.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington and Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Alistair Bell)
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