Donald Trump is reported to have made the remarks following his two-hour long phone call with his Vladimir Putin.

Vladimir Putin doesn’t want peace in Ukraine because he believes he is winning the war, Donald Trump told European leaders in a phone call this week. The acknowledgement on Monday was the first time Kyiv’s European allies had heard the US president admit that Putin was not seeking peace, sources told the Wall Street Journal.

President Trump said Thursday he wasn’t at all surprised Russian President Vladimir Putin was snubbing peace talks with Ukraine this week — saying, “Why would he go if I’m not going?” Trump, who had pushed for Putin to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Turkey later on Thursday,