Trump calls out Putin’s ‘bull—-‘ during Cabinet meeting on Ukraine war

President Donald Trump took a different tone on Russian leader Vladimir Putin during his Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, calling out the “bull—-.”

Trump was making a contrast between the assistance his administration sent Ukraine during his first term and what former President Barack Obama approved.

“I gave them the javelins. Remember? They said, ‘Trump gave the javelins and Obama gave them sheets.’ Right. They called Obama at that time, Barack Hussein Obama. If you haven’t heard, he did a terrible job,” Trump said. “That was a war that should have happened. And a lot of people are dying and it should end. And I don’t know, we get… we get a lot of bull—- thrown at us by Putin. If you want to know the truth. He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.” 

When Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, Obama rejected Ukraine’s request for lethal aid and instead sent non-lethal military assistance, including items like blankets, night vision devices and medical supplies. In December 2017, Trump marked a shift in U.S. policy toward Ukraine by approving the sale of Javelin missiles and launch units. 

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Trump on Tuesday said the Biden administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan gave Putin the green light to launch his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

“I think that had you not had the situation in Afghanistan, I don’t think Putin would have gotten in. I think when he looked at how stupid and incompetent that operation was, he said, ‘wow, this might be a chance’,” Trump told reporters. “We’re dealing with him now, too. We’re not happy with Putin. I’m not happy with Putin, I can tell you that much right now, because he’s killing a lot of people, and a lot of them are his soldiers, his soldiers and their soldiers, mostly. And it’s now up to 7,000 a week. And I’m not happy with Putin.”

Last week, Trump said he was “very disappointed” by his phone call with Putin, who afterward refused to back down from his objectives and launched the largest aerial assault on Ukraine since the war began. Trump, meanwhile, reported having a “very strategic call” with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as the United States weighed whether to sell Kyiv more Patriot missiles. 

Since beginning his second term, Trump has expressed having a “good relationship” with Putin. As the U.S. attempted to negotiate a ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine, Trump reported having a “lengthy and very productive” call with Putin in March. Meanwhile, a meeting in the Oval Office with Zelenskyy grew increasingly contentious as Trump and Vice President JD Vance accused the Ukrainian leader of being ungrateful for U.S. support and of resisting a peace deal. 

“You’re gambling with World War III, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country that’s backed you far more than a lot of people say they should have,” Trump told Zelenskyy in February. 

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Trump and Zelenskyy met at The Hague during the NATO summit last month, and afterward the U.S. president said of Zelenskyy, “he couldn’t have been nicer,” while expressing a mutual desire to see an end to the three-year-long conflict.

During his Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Trump criticized the scale of the U.S. military aid sent to Ukraine under former President Joe Biden, while also praising “brave” Ukrainian fighters.

“I will say the Ukrainians were brave, but we gave them the best equipment ever made,” Trump said. Without it, the president said, the conflict, “probably would have been a very quick war, would have been a war that lasted 3 or 4 days.”

“But they had the benefit of unbelievable equipment and Europe gave them too. We gave them far more because – Biden shouldn’t have done that. He should have equalized,” Trump said. “We should have given them the same or we should have given actually less than Europe because it affects Europe much more than us. But we’re in there for over $300 billion. Europe’s in there for over 100 billion, but still Europe gave a lot.”

“And I will say this. The Ukrainians, whether you think it’s unfair that we gave all that money or not, they were very brave because somebody had to operate that stuff,” Trump added. “And a lot of people I know wouldn’t be operating it. They wouldn’t have the courage to do it. So they fought very bravely, but we gave them the best equipment in the world. We make the best military equipment by far. There’s nobody close.” 

The Pentagon paused U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine in June out of concern for U.S. stockpiles of critical munitions, including Patriot missiles, amid the Israel-Iran conflict. 

Trump said Tuesday some U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine have resumed.

“We wanted to put defensive weapons because Putin is not, he’s not treating human beings right. He’s killing too many people. So we’re sending some defensive weapons to Ukraine, and I’ve approved that,” Trump said.