Vladimir Putin said he believed Donald Trump was sincere about wanting to end the war in Ukraine, but expressed ignorance about the former US president’s plan.
“The fact that Mr Trump, as a presidential candidate, declares that he is ready and wants to stop the war in Ukraine, we take this completely seriously,” the Russian president said at a news conference in Kazakhstan yesterday.
“I am not, of course, familiar with possible proposals for how he plans to do this. This is the key question. But I have no doubt that he means it sincerely, and we support it,” he said when asked about the Republican presidential candidate’s statement.
At a CNN town hall in May last year, Mr Trump had said: “They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done. I’ll have that done in 24 hours.”
As the war in Ukraine grinds on, Russia’s defence ministry said its forces were carrying out drills involving mobile nuclear missile launchers, the Interfax news agency reported this morning.