Next topic up: Ukrainepublished at 20:46 Greenwich Mean Time
Trump now moves on to talking about another major topic of the week: Russia’s war in Ukraine.
We’re dealing with President Zelensky and we’re dealing with President Putin, Trump tells the crowd.
He hits out at “stupid and incompetent” President Joe Biden for involving the US so heavily in Ukraine’s defence against Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion.
Europe should contribute more money to aid Ukraine than the US, Trump says.
We should get back the money we gave them he says. “It’s just not fair.”
He says “I think we’re close to a deal” to end the war, which he calls a “horrible situation”.
“It would have never happened” if I were president, he says.
“We’re
working on that,” he says. “I don’t like talking about it because we’re in the middle of
negotiations.”
US officials met Russian officials – without Ukrainians – in Saudi Arabia in recent days to begin peace talks. The meetings came as Zelensky and Trump traded barbs, with Trump calling Zelensky a “dictator”.
You can read more about the history of Trump and Zelensky’s relationship here.