JAKARTA - US President Donald Trump said he was "not finished" with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump made this statement in a BBC interview published on Tuesday, July 15, hours after he expressed his disappointment with Putin and threatened Moscow with sanctions.
Trump told the BBC he thought Ukraine's deal with Russia would be reached four times.
When asked by the BBC if his relationship with Putin was over, Trump said: "I'm disappointed with him, but I'm not done with him yet. But I'm disappointed with him."
When asked how Trump would make Putin "stop the bloodshed", the US president said: "We are fighting".
"We'll have great discussions. I'll say: 'Good, I think we're close to finishing it,' then he's going to knock down a building in Kyiv," Trump told the BBC.
Trump announced a new weapon to Ukraine on Monday and threatened to impose sanctions on Russian export buyers, with a grace period of 50 days, unless Russia agrees to a peace agreement, a major policy change caused by frustration over Moscow's persistent attacks on neighboring countries.
He told reporters on Monday billions of dollars in US weapons, including Patriot air defense missiles, would be delivered to Ukraine via NATO and NATO would finance it.
Since returning to the White House with the promise of ending the war soon, Trump has sought to restore relations with Moscow, and has spoken with Putin several times. His administration has withdrawn from pro-Ukraine policies such as supporting Kyiv membership in NATO and demanding Russia withdraw from all over Ukraine.
However, Putin has not yet accepted Trump's proposal for an unconditional ceasefire, which Kyiv quickly approved. In recent days, Russia has used hundreds of drones to attack Ukrainian cities.
In an interview with the BBC, Trump reiterated his support for the NATO alliance.
"I think NATO is now the opposite of that (the absence of the times) because the alliance is 'paying their own bills'," he told the BBC.
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