- Donald Trump criticized Vladimir Putin for his actions during the war in Ukraine.
- Russia condemned the American intervention in Venezuela.
- Trump confirmed that he did not discuss the capture of Nicolás Maduro with Putin.
American President Donald Trump again expressed his dissatisfaction with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday. He stated this at a press conference dedicated to the American intervention in Venezuela. He reiterated that he initially believed that ending Russia’s war against Ukraine would be easy. TASR informs about it according to a Reuters report.
“I’m not happy with Putin. He’s killing too many people.” Trump told reporters at his Florida mansion Mar-a-Lago, where he was commenting on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife by US special forces.
Trump said he and Putin did not discuss Maduro when they spoke on the phone in recent days. The leaders first spoke on Sunday before Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Florida, then they had an almost two-hour conversation on Monday as well. “We never talked about Maduro,” said the head of the White House.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday it was extremely concerned by reports that the Americans had detained Maduro and his wife and flown them out of Venezuela, which is among Moscow’s closest allies.. Russia, which almost four years ago militarily attacked neighboring Ukraine, condemned this “aggressive” US intervention and called for the immediate release of the Venezuelan couple.
On Monday, according to Reuters, Trump initially expressed sympathy for Russian claims that Ukrainian drones had attacked Putin’s residence in the Novgorod region. Kiev denied the accusation, and Trump himself later appeared more skeptical when he published a New York Post editorial on the Truth Social social network that accused Russia of obstructing peace in Ukraine.
Citing unnamed US government officials, the Wall Street Journal reported that both the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) had concluded that Ukraine did not attempt to attack Putin’s residence.
Ukrainian President Zelensky also commented on Maduro’s capture on Saturday. At a press briefing after talks with the national security advisers of allied countries, he declared that “if it is possible to act like this against dictators, then the US knows what to do next.” According to the Ukrainian media, he probably meant Putin by that.
