US President Donald Trump expressed confidence that the Russian leadership wants to achieve a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.
In an interview with ABC television, the American leader was asked whether he believed that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants peace in Ukraine. “I would say he wants to stop the war“, Trump added, expressing confidence that Putin respects him.
The US president said that if he had lost last year's presidential election, “Russia would have taken all of Ukraine“. He called Ukraine “the apple of Russia's eye“.
The American leader was asked whether he would stop military aid to Ukraine if the parties failed to reach a peace agreement. "I won't tell you. I want this to be a big secret because I don't want to ruin the negotiations," the president said.
He once again expressed dissatisfaction with Russia's strikes on targets in Ukraine.
"We're fighting very hard on the Chinese front and on the Russian front. I mean Ukraine. And also what's happening in the Middle East", the American leader said on Tuesday, speaking to personnel at Selfridge Air Force Base near Detroit, Michigan.
"You're going to hear a lot," Trump noted, without going into details.
The US president touched on the issue of military spending and the construction of new submarines in his speech. He believes that the American military-industrial complex produces "the best" submarines in the world. "Some of the things we do are just incredible. "On the one hand, we don't want to do them. On the other hand, we have no choice," Trump said.