- Russia is identified by Trump as a major long-term threat to NATO security
- Trump said Putin may have ambitions to invade countries beyond Ukraine
- Trump finds dealing with Putin harder than initially expected
US President Donald Trump said it was "possible" that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, may have ambitions of invading other countries after his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as he identified Russia as one of the greatest long-term threats to the security of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) alliance. The American leader acknowledged that the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv has been harder to solve than he initially thought and said he believes Putin is "misguided" in his ambitions.
Speaking at the NATO summit in the Hague on Wednesday, Trump indicated he will consider providing more missiles that Ukraine needs to defend against mounting Russian strikes, adding that Putin "really has to end that war", according to a report by US Today.
Trump was asked whether Putin has territorial ambitions beyond Ukraine. He replied, "It's possible."
"I consider him (Putin) a person who I think is misguided," the US president said, adding that it has been "more difficult" to deal with the Russian leader than he anticipated. Trump also acknowledged that he had "some problems" with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
"I think it's a great time to end it (war). I'm going to speak to Vladimir Putin, see if we can get it ended...I'm very surprised, actually, I thought we would have had that settled easy," Trump was quoted as saying by US publication.
The American commander in chief also left open the possibility of providing more military aid to Kyiv, which has suffered grinding Russian advances on the battlefield in recent months. He had previously shown no sign of resuming the donations of weaponry to Ukraine that his predecessor, Joe Biden, had instituted after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
Asked directly whether the U.S. would contribute more funding to Ukraine's defence this year, Trump said: "As far as money going, we'll see what happens."
Trump's remarks capped a shortened NATO meeting that placed less emphasis on Ukraine than during past summits to avoid friction with Trump.
Trump had rattled allies on the summit's eve by appearing to cast some doubt on the validity of NATO's mutual defence clause -- known as Article Five of the alliance treaty.
But the pledge was reaffirmed unequivocally in the summit's final statement -- and Trump drove the point home at his closing press conference.
"I came here because it was something I'm supposed to be doing," Trump said in closing remarks to the press, when pressed on the mutual defence clause known as Article Five.
