Trump says he is “very surprised”, Putin has strengthened attacks on Ukraine | Donald Trump

Donald Trump said reporters on Sunday that he was “very surprised” that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, despite the efforts of the US President, had intensified the bombing of Ukrainian cities.

“I am not satisfied with what Putin does. He kills a lot of people and I don't know what happened to the hell with Putin,” said Trump at an airport in New Jersey. “I have known him for a long time, always came out with him, but he sends rockets into cities and kills people and I don't like it at all.”

“We are right now and he shoots rockets in Kyiv and other cities,” said Trump. “I don't like it at all. And I'm surprised. I'm very surprised.”

When asked by a reporter, what he was going to do against the renewed Russian attack on Ukraine, said Trump:

“I don't like what Putin is doing, not even a little, he kills people,” added Trump. “Something happened with this guy and I don't like it.”

Pressed from a reporter to say whether he was seriously considering “setting more sanctions against Russia,” replied Trump: “Absolutely. He kills many people. What happened to the devil has happened with him?”

His comments come for a month after Trump published rare criticism of Putin on social media. “I am not satisfied with the Russian strikes in Kyiv. Not necessary and very bad timing. Vladimir, stop!” Trump wrote in an April post on his social platform. “Let's do the peace agreement!”

During his campaign for the presidency, Trump had repeatedly claimed that he would end the war in Ukraine in Ukraine, even before he was inaugurated.

The president also confirmed that he had agreed to postpone the implementation of his newly announced 50% tariffs for imports from the European Union until July 9 after a call from Ursula von der Leyen, the EU President. “We had a very nice call,” said Trump, confirming the break announced by the Leyen in a social media post earlier on Sunday.

“Europe is ready to advance the talks quickly and determined,” wrote from the Leyen. “To achieve good business, we need the time until July 9th.”

Trump also repeated comments that he previously published on social media to justify foreign students to justify the ability of his Harvard University.