Trump said his latest call with Putin wouldn't lead to "immediate peace" as he relayed the Russian leader's plans to retaliate against Ukraine.

Trump has generally veered away from overtly criticizing Putin while openly berating Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky, but has repeatedly condemned Russia's lethal airstrikes and floated that the Kremlin could be "tapping us along."

Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump held a 50-minute phone call Saturday to discuss the escalating situation in the Middle East and Ukraine peace talks, Putin aide

World leaders had hoped to secure U.S. backing for tougher sanctions on Russia, which struck Ukraine with missiles and drones overnight.

President Donald Trump took questions from reporters at the G7 summit in Canada and said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was insulted after being thrown out of the G8 summit. Trump went on to say he understands that Putin took offense and stated that Putin "doesn't even speak to the people that threw him out.

President Donald Trump claimed Monday that the Russia-Ukraine war could have been avoided if Moscow was still a part of the G7 forum. Trump called Russia’s 2014 expulsion from the group a grave mistake and suggested that Putin would not have invaded Ukraine had Trump been in the White House four years ago.