President Donald Trump briefly avoided a foreign policy question on Sunday night—only to bring up the same topic moments later while speaking on the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors.
Trump, 79, was answering light-hearted questions about the glamorous event when a reporter asked if he was willing to discuss Russia and Ukraine.
“Maybe not. This is about the Kennedy Center,” he initially replied.
But after taking a playful question about who was on his “naughty list,” Trump circled back and couldn’t resist weighing in.
Calling the U.S. “the hottest country anywhere in the world right now,” Trump again boasted about having “ended eight wars” and said efforts were underway to resolve another—repeating claims he has often used in his push for a Nobel Peace Prize.
When pressed about the ongoing peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, Trump said he was disappointed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had not yet reviewed his latest proposal.
“We’ve been speaking to President Putin and Ukrainian leaders. His people love it, Russia is fine with it… but I’m not sure President Zelensky is fine with it,” Trump said.
The former president noted there were no major breakthroughs after what he described as a “reasonably good” meeting between U.S. officials and Vladimir Putin last week. He also admitted uncertainty over Russia’s position, saying, “It takes two to tango.”
Meanwhile, President Zelensky posted on X that Ukraine and its partners still have “work to be done” to ensure Russia commits to ending the war.