President Trump said he is “very angry" and "pissed off" at remarks Russian President Vladimir Putin made Friday about Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, suggesting he is not a legitimate leader.
The president threatened to slap a new tariff on Russia if it is at fault for stalling an end "to bloodshed."
“If I feel, if we're in the midst of a negotiation, you could say that I was very angry, pissed off, when Putin said yesterday that — you know, when Putin started getting into Zelensky’s credibility, because that's not going in the right location, you understand?” Trump told NBC News’s Kristen Welker during a phone interview on Sunday.
The Russian president said Friday that his Ukrainian counterpart does not have the legitimacy required for a peace deal signature and suggested an interim government is needed, The Associated Press reported. Ukraine’s 2024 presidential elections were postponed due to martial law amid the war with Russia.
Putin said any agreement signed on to by Ukraine’s government could receive pushback.
“Under the auspices of the United Nations, with the United States, even with European countries, and, of course, with our partners and friends, we could discuss the possibility of introduction of temporary governance in Ukraine,” he said Friday, according to the AP, later saying that “democratic elections, to bring to power a viable government that enjoys the trust of the people, and then begin negotiations with them on a peace treaty” would be able to happen via the temporary governance.
Trump said he feared the call for a new leader would delay a peace deal.
"But new leadership means you're not gonna have a deal for a long time, right?" the president asked Welker.
He then said if the Kremlin's stance hampered peace negotiations, Russia would be hit with another round of sanctions.
“If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault — which it might not be — but if I think it was Russia’s fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia,” Trump told NBC News.
In the first months of his second term, Trump and his administration have made a big push to end the war in Ukraine, meeting with people from both sides of the war even in the face of controversy about the countries’ actions.
On Sunday, Trump said he also “was pissed off” about Putin’s comments about temporary governance and that his anger about Putin’s comments had been made known to Moscow.
