Trump also revealed that Putin had recently offered to assist in mediating between Israel and Iran during their brief June conflict — an offer he declined. “I said, ‘No, no, you help me get a settlement with you, with Russia,’” Trump recounted. “And I think we're going to be doing that too.”

Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Russian President Vladimir Putin, called Trump's statement "very serious" in his daily press briefing on Tuesday, July 15. Peskov said Putin would need time to analyze Trump's remarks, some of which were directed at him, and to decide whether to comment.

US President Donald Trump is hosting the NATO chief in Washington on Monday after teasing a "major statement" on Russia's war in Ukraine, with senior Republicans preparing an arsenal of

In other words, Trump hasn’t backed away from his basic position that this is not America’s war, or at least not Trump’s (it’s “Biden’s war,” he said just last week). A cynical appraisal of Trump’s motives might surmise that,