WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States would help to secure peace after Russia’s war in Ukraine is settled, President Donald Trump said in an interview aired on Fox News on Thursday.
“After the war is settled, we would help secure the peace. And I think ultimately that’ll happen,” Trump told Fox News’ “The Story with Martha MacCallum” program.
Trump also acknowledged that helping to bring about an end to the war in Ukraine had been more challenging than he anticipated and that he was “very disappointed” in Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The one I thought was going to be easiest (to settle) was going to be Russia-Ukraine, because of my relationship with President Putin. So I’m disappointed,” Trump said.
Trump has repeatedly set deadlines for Moscow to reach a ceasefire deal with Ukraine or face new sanctions, only to see the deadlines ignored. He warmly welcomed Putin at what was billed by the White House as a peace summit in Alaska in mid-August but failed to secure major concessions.
Trump told Fox News that he still believed there would be a solution to the conflict, and that one of the ways to get there was for Europe to stop buying Russian oil.
“Ultimately, if oil prices go down, or if Russia is not selling oil, they have no choice but to settle and European Union nations or the NATO nations … when they’re buying oil from Russia, that’s not the greatest thing,” Trump said.
(Reporting by Katharine Jackson in Washington, Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto and Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by Franklin Paul and Matthew Lewis)
