U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he was “not happy” with Vladimir Putin over the ongoing war on Ukraine, and accused the Russian leader of throwing ‘bulls—‘ at the United States in response to efforts to end that conflict.
“He’s killing a lot of people …. his soldiers and their soldiers, mostly, and it’s now up to 7,000 a week,” Trump said, referring to Putin during a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
“And I’m not happy with Putin,” Trump said. “I’m very unhappy with them.”
Trump’s comments came days after the Pentagon paused a weapons shipment to Ukraine — and a day after the president said the U.S. would now “send some more weapons” to that country to defend itself from Russia.
Trump said Tuesday that he did not know who ordered the pause in the weapons shipment last week.
“Why don’t you tell me?” Trump said to a reporter, half-jokingly, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sat next to him.
Trump, as he has repeatedly done in the past, suggested Tuesday that actions by his two Democratic predecessors in the White House, Joe Biden and Barack Obama, were to blame for Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine in February 2022.
Trump said that the war “turned out to be tougher” than Russia might have expected, in large part because of military equipment provided to the Ukrainians by the United States.
“That was a war … that should have never happened, and a lot of people are dying and it should end,” Trump said.
“We get a lot of bulls— thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said.
“He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”
Trump and Putin last spoke by phone on July 3, a call the White House said lasted for nearly an hour.
Later in the day, he told reporters the call was a disappointment.
“I’m very disappointed with the conversation I had today with President Putin, because I don’t think he’s there,” Trump said en route back to Washington after a visit to Iowa.
“I don’t think he’s looking to stop” the war in Ukraine, said Trump. “And that’s too bad.”
