It was a rare acknowledgement from President Donald Trump that he has been getting played by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During a televised cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Trump vented his increasing frustration with Putin’s refusal to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine. “We get a lot of bullsh-t thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,” Trump told reporters. “He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”
The U.S. President said he is now considering a bipartisan Senate proposal to impose sanctions on Russia oil exports and has reversed a Pentagon decision to delay key arms shipments to Ukraine.
Last week, the Pentagon announced a temporary pause in shipments of air defense missiles and guided artillery, citing concerns over dwindling U.S. weapons stockpiles. But on Tuesday, Trump said he had overruled the decision. “Putin is not treating human beings right—he’s killing too many people,” he said. “So we’re sending some defensive weapons to Ukraine, and I’ve approved that.”
Mark Montgomery, a retired Navy rear admiral and a senior fellow at the The Foundation for Defense of Democracies, says Trump believed he sent a clear message to Putin in June that the time had come to stop the attacks on Ukrainian civilians and come to the table to discuss a ceasefire. But instead of de-esclating, Russia increased the severity of its attacks. Trump felt disrespected, Montgomery says. “He got a double whammy there. He’s getting bullsh-tted by Putin and undercut by his own Department of Defense.”
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Trump, who campaigned on a promise to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours, admitted that had not materialized. “It’s turned out to be tougher,” he acknowledged, saying he’s “not happy” with Putin. “He’s killing a lot of people and a lot of them are his soldiers.”
Several months into his presidency, Trump has been unable to get Putin to stop his assault on Ukrainian territory and the ongoing bombardment of civilians. That failure has frustrated Trump, who sees himself as a dealmaker who can resolve entrenched conflicts through the flexing of American military and economic power. He has long been fixated on winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
Trump’s support for Ukraine has run hot and cold during his second term. He came into office saying he would cut aid to Kyiv and in February berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a heated Oval Office meeting, telling him “he didn’t have the cards” to win. Zelensky seemed to have repaired his relationship with Trump after a face-to-face meeting at the Vatican in April.
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Given his frustration with Putin, a reporter asked if there were any steps he plans to take to punish Russia for refusing to end the war in Ukraine. “I wouldn’t be telling you,” he replied.
Trump said he is looking at a bill making its way through the Senate that is designed to sanction Russian oil sales to China. Called the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025, the bill is designed to push countries that support Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, said the bill’s author Senator Lindsey Graham of North Carolina in an Op-Ed published on the Fox News website.
The bill has been consponsored by 41 Republicans, 42 Democrats and Sen. Angus King of Maine, an independent. Trump said he’s looking at the sanctions bill “very strongly.”