President Donald Trump said Sunday that he was disappointed with Russia for launching missiles while trying to reach a peace deal between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Trump spoke with reporters before boarding Air Force One on Sunday evening, where he was asked about everything from the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, and Iranian peace talks to the suicide of Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre.
During the gaggle, the president said his meeting on Saturday with Zelenskyy went very well.
“We’ll see what happens over the next few days,” Trump said. “I was very disappointed that missiles were flying, by Russia…very disappointed.”
TRUMP AND ZELENSKYY HAVE ‘VERY PRODUCTIVE’ TALK AS THEY ATTEND POPE FRANCIS’ FUNERAL
President Donald Trump meets face-to-face with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the first time since their Oval Office spat in February. (Vatican and Ukraine Ambassador to Holy See)
Trump and Zelenskyy met face-to-face for the first time since their infamous Oval Office spat in February, as both were attending Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome.
After the meeting, the Ukrainian president posted on X that the meeting was “very symbolic” and could potentially be “historic.”
The meeting came as peace talks between Russia and Ukraine appeared to be at a standstill with Zelenskyy and Putin making competing demands.
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President Donald Trump (center), Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (right). (Alessandro Bremec/NurPhoto via Getty Images | Contributor/Getty Images | Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Trump called the meeting with Zelenskyy on Saturday “beautiful.”
“Look, we have a tough road ahead, okay?” Trump said. “He told me that he needs more weapons, but he’s been saying that for three years. He needs more weapons, and we’re going to see what happens.
“I want to see what happens with respect to Russia,” Trump added.
He explained that he was very disappointed with Russia for conducting bombings in Kyiv after the discussions with both countries.
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An explosion of a drone is seen in the sky over the city during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine April 24, 2025. (REUTERS/Gleb Garanich)
Trump said Zelenskyy spoke to him about Crimea, which has been a sticking point for the Ukrainian president.
American officials have apparently floated the idea of recognizing Russia’s control of Crimea, a territory that Russia seized in 2014, as part of a ceasefire proposal. This would also involve the freezing of current frontlines.
But Zelenskyy has drawn a red line about Crimea.
In 2022, Zelenskyy said the Russian war against Ukraine and against the entire free Europe “began with Crimea and must end with Crimea – and its liberation,” according to a report from Axios.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at a concert marking his victory in a presidential election and the 10-year anniversary of Crimea’s annexation by Russia on Red Square in Moscow, Russia, Monday, March 18, 2024. President Vladimir Putin seized Crimea from Ukraine a decade ago, a move that sent his popularity soaring but was widely denounced as illegal. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
On Tuesday, Zelenskyy reiterated his stance, shutting down the idea that Ukraine would recognize Russian control of Crimea.
Trump blamed the state of Crimea on former U.S. presidents.
“Crimea was given away by Barack Hussein Obama, and by Biden, like 11 or 12 years ago. That’s a long time ago,” Trump told reporters. “I don’t know how he could bring up Crimea, because that’s been a long time. Nobody brought it up for 12 years, and now they’re bringing it up now. So, I told them, I told him, he should maybe go back to Obama, ask him why they gave it up. They gave it without a shot being fired by him.”
As far as current negotiations about reaching peace, Trump said he wanted Putin to “stop shooting, sit down and sign a deal.”
“We have the confines of a deal, I believe, and I want him to sign it and be done with it,” the president said.
TRUMP SAYS ‘INFLAMMATORY’ ZELENSKYY STATEMENT ON CRIMEA PROLONGS WAR WITH RUSSIA
Shipping containers are seen at the container terminal of the port of Oakland, California, U.S., October 28, 2021. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria)
Since his return to the Oval Office, Trump said the U.S. has been more respected than ever before. He also noted that with that strength, there are actions he can take against Russia, though he is not looking to act.
“There’s no more games,” he said before taking another dig at former President Biden. “We have somebody that knows what he’s doing, not like the previous person who didn’t have a clue.”
Trump touted that since implementing tariffs, costs are dropping “way down.”
For instance, he said groceries, eggs and gasoline are coming down. He also said the U.S. is collecting “a lot” of money from the tariffs.
“Eventually, we’ll be reducing taxes very substantially to the people of our country because the money is so great coming in from tariffs, that I’ll be able to reduce taxes to a very large extent, and maybe almost completely,” Trump said.
Along with tariffs, the president addressed peace negotiations in Iran, saying he thinks the deal is going to be made without “having to start dropping bombs all over the place.”
VIRGINIA GIUFFRE, JEFFREY EPSTEIN AND PRINCE ANDREW ACCUSER, DEAD AT 41 BY SUICIDE: REPORT
On a more somber note, Trump was asked for his reaction to Virginia Giuffre’s suicide in Australia.
Prince Andrew allegedly appears in this photograph with his arm around the waist of then-17-year-old Virginia Giuffre. Ghislaine Maxwell is standing to the right. (U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals)
Giuffre, 41, one of Epstein’s and Prince Andrew’s most prominent accusers, filed a lawsuit against the English royal in New York in 2021. In the lawsuit, Giuffre claimed she was forced to have sex with him three times between 1999 and 2002, when she was underage.
She died in Neergabby, Australia over the weekend, where she had been living, according to an NBC report.
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“Well, it’s a very sad situation, the whole thing,” Trump said. “That whole situation is very sad, her and others. And so certainly that’s a horrible thing, horrible.”
Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson, Bradford Betz and Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.
