Donald Trump fears Russia has been playing him after publicly decrying Vladimir Putin’s claims to want peace.
The US president had face-to-face talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky at Pope Francis’s funeral in Rome on Saturday and appears to have realised Moscow was pulling the wool over his eyes.
In a social media post Trump said he feared Putin was “tapping me along” after the Kremlin ordered a devastating missile strike which killed 12 in Kyiv on Thursday. It was the heaviest pounding of the capital in a year and came after Putin said he wanted a pathway to peace.
Two days later, Trump and Zelensky met, and afterwards, the US president said there was “no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas”.
The two leaders talked for 15 minutes in St Peter’s Basilica shortly before the pontiff’s funeral.
The White House described the meeting as “very productive” with Zelensky saying it had the “potential to become historic”. It was the first time the pair had met since February, when the Ukrainian president was humiliated and ordered out of the Oval Office.
In a post on his Truth Social account, Trump said Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities “makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘banking’ or ‘secondary sanctions?'”
Trump previously said Russia and Ukraine were “very close to a deal” following talks between White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Putin on Friday.
A day later the Kremlin confirmed its readiness to enter into direct talks with Ukraine “without preconditions”.
Kyiv has steadfastly refused to concede territory to Russia as part of any peace deal, including Crimea which is regarded as occupied Ukrainian territory, while Moscow wants assurances its neighbour will not join the Nato alliance.
The chaos and confusion surrounding efforts to broker a ceasefire and longer-lasting peace deal come days after Russia pounded Kyiv with a barrage of missile and drone attacks.
French President Emmanuel Macron said: Ending the war in Ukraine is the goal we share with President Trump.
“Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire. President Zelensky reaffirmed it to me [at Pope Francis’s funeral]. He wishes to work alongside the Americans and the Europeans to make it happen.
“It is now up to President Putin to prove that he truly wants peace. We will continue our efforts within the Coalition of the Willing launched in Paris last March, to achieve both this ceasefire and a complete, lasting peace in Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s criticism of Putin’s aggression was “welcome”, Cabinet minister Pat McFadden said, adding: “This is a war of Russian aggression, so I hope President Trump and his administration can bring the parties together in a way that stops the fighting and gets a lasting peace. There’s certainly no reason for Putin to be ordering strikes on civilian areas in Ukraine.”
