Trump admits Putin may not be interested in ending Ukraine war

US President Donald Trump has questioned his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin's willingness to stop the war and criticised recent missile strikes in Ukraine, CNN reported. Trump said after his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Vatican on the sidelines of Pope Francis' funeral, on Saturday. It was the first meeting between the two leaders since their meeting in the White House, when Zelenskyy faced criticism from Trump and Vice President JD Vance over what they saw as a lack of gratitude for American support.
In a post shared on his social media platform, Truth Social, as he was heading back to the US from Rome, Trump hinted at imposing sanctions against Moscow after Russia's latest missile attack on Ukraine and questioned whether Putin wants to stop the war. Donald Trump even criticised former US President Barack Obama and suggested that he "made it possible for Russia to steal Crimea from Ukraine without even a shot being fired."
"This is Sleepy Joe Biden's War, not mine. It was a loser from day one, and should have never happened, and wouldn't have happened if I were President at the time. I'm just trying to clean up the mess that was left to me by Obama and Biden, and what a mess it is. With all of that being said, there was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days. It makes me think that maybe he doesn't want to stop the war, he's just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through "Banking" or "Secondary Sanctions?" Too many people are dying," he added.
Trump and Zelenskyy spoke ahead of the funeral of Pope Francis. Describing his meeting with Trump as "good," Zelenskyy said that talks focused on "full and unconditional ceasefire." He expressed hope to see results on everything they discussed. In a post on X, Zelenskyy said, "Good meeting. We discussed a lot one-on-one. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results. Thank you POTUS."