Trump lashes out at Putin, doesn't know who paused aid to Ukraine

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Jul 8, 2025

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President Donald Trump lashed out Tuesday at Russia’s Vladimir Putin for “throwing bulls–t at us” and claimed he didn’t know who ordered a brief pause in defense assistance to Ukraine last week.

In a dramatic shift in tone, Trump accused Putin of spewing double talk on Ukraine and sounded far more supportive of embattled Kyiv.

“We get a lot of bulls–t thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,” Trump told reporters during a televised cabinet meeting at the White House. “He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”

Trump added that he now sees Putin as being a primary obstacle to ending the war in Ukraine.

“I’m not happy with Putin. I can tell you that much right now, because he’s killing a lot of people,” Trump said, adding that Putin is “not treating human beings right.”

“It’s turned out to be tougher,” he said as he spoke about his efforts to sweet-talk Putin into ending his invasion of neighboring Ukraine after more than three years of brutal warfare.

Trump said he decided to reverse a pause in defense aid to Ukraine that was implemented last week.

But he said he didn’t know who decided to put the aid on hold in the first place.

“I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?” he said to a reporter who asked whose decision it was.

The attacks on Putin mark a dramatic shift from Trump, who has spent years defending the Kremlin strongman. He has repeatedly called Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy the main obstacle to ending the conflict.

Putin has stubbornly snubbed Trump’s demand for a ceasefire, a plea Zelenskyy quickly agreed to.

Trump held a phone call with Putin last week that yielded no progress. He said a later call with Zelenskyy went well, apparently leading to the resumption of aid.

“(Russia is) killing too many people, so we’re sending some defensive weapons to Ukraine,” Trump said.

Trump’s reversal on Putin comes as Russia presses forward with a summer offensive on the frontlines of the conflict in eastern Ukraine and with a stepped-up campaign of missile and drone attacks on civilian targets.

Russia watchers have warned for years that Putin has no intention of abandoning his objective of gobbling up a big chunk of Ukrainian territory, especially now that his troops are on the front foot.