Trump told reporters in the Oval Office he had scrapped the anticipated meeting after concluding, “It didn’t feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get — so I canceled it, but we’ll do it in the future.”
He had said last week he intended to meet Putin in Budapest after what he described as a “very productive” phone call.
Earlier this week, CNN reported Trump’s hopes for a quick session had stalled, citing an administration official who said there were “no plans” for a summit “in the immediate future.”
Pressed Wednesday on whether Putin wants to end the war in Ukraine, Trump said he believed both sides want peace.
“It’s almost four years. You’re going into four years,” he said, adding that if he were president “it never would have started.”
He voiced frustration at the pace of negotiations. “Every time I speak with Vladimir [Putin], I have good conversations, and then they don’t go anywhere,” Trump said. “They just don’t go anywhere.”
(jh)
Source: CNN, PAP