President Donald Trump, during a joint news conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, has reportedly said that Russian President Vladimir Putin “has really let me down” regarding the ongoing war in Ukraine. Trump may be starting to realize that his friendship with Putin is one-sided. For years, he’s boasted about his relationship with the Russian leader, even as other world leaders and intelligence officials warned against it.
According to Bloomberg, Trump thinks that if the price of oil comes down, Putin will have “no choice” but to drop out of the war. He’s been pretty vocal about this idea for a while now, urging NATO countries to cut off their oil purchases from Russia. This isn’t just a new thing either; Trump has been pushing for this for a while, even threatening tariffs on countries like India and China for buying Russian petroleum. He’s said that it’s “shocking” that some NATO members continue to buy Russian oil, and that it weakens the alliance’s bargaining power against Russia.
