Trump wonders if Putin just tapping me along, says he must be dealt with differently now

President Trump said Saturday that he’s not entirely sure Russian strongman Vladimir Putin actually wants to end the bloody war in Ukraine and wondered whether he’s just been “tapping me along.”Trump signaled that he now believes Putin must be “dealt with differently” now and floated the tightening of sanctions to change Russia’s attitude.The stark admission comes hours after Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”Overnight into Thursday, Russia conducted a missile strike in Kyiv that killed 12 people and wounded 87.That came against the backdrop of other attacks on civilians in Sumy and elsewhere over recent weeks.

Amid Trump’s efforts to broker an end to the bloody war, Putin boasted Saturday that Moscow’s forces managed to regain control of the western Russian city of Kursk, which Ukraine captured last August in a surprising military operation.Trump huddled with Zelensky in St.

Peter’s Basilica ahead of Pope Francis’ funeral for about 15 minutes.Zelensky praised the encounter as a “good meeting” and released photos of the two men talking.

One photo showed Trump, Zelensky, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron embracing each other.So far, neither side has revealed extensive details about what was discussed.The meeting was Trump and Zelensky’s first face-to-face since the infamous Feb.

28 Oval Office blow-up that had been caught on camera.During the February meeting, Zelensky had tried to impress upon Trump and Vice President JD Vance that Putin wasn’t sincere about pursuing peace and had a track record of violating h...