President Donald Trump said Wednesday he had "cancelled" a planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling reporters at the White House: "It just didn't seem right."
"It didn't seem like we were going to get where we needed to get — so I canceled it, but we will do it in the future," Trump told reporters gathered in the Oval Office.
Last week, Trump said he planned to meet with the Russian president in Budapest, Hungary, after a long phone conversation that he described as "very productive."
However, CNN reported earlier this week that Trump's hopes for a quick meeting with Putin had faded, with an administration official saying Tuesday that there are "no plans" for a summit between the two "in the near future."
However, when asked Wednesday whether he thinks the Russian president wants to end the ongoing war with Ukraine, Trump replied: "Yes."
“I think they want peace, I think they both want peace,” Trump said. “At this point, you know, it’s been almost four years. It’s going into its fourth year. And if I were president, it would never have started. But, yeah, it’s time.”
Trump admitted frustration with the slow pace of negotiations with Russia to end the war.
“Well, I think, in terms of honesty, the only thing I can say is that every time I talk to Vladimir [Putin], we have good conversations, and then they don’t go anywhere,” he said. “They just don’t go anywhere.”