“Ukraine has lost militarily”: did Trump misspeak after speaking with Putin?

U.S. President Donald Trump said after his conversation with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin that Ukraine has already “lost in military terms.”

Yesterday, Telegram channels wrote that Trump had misspoken and in fact meant that Iran had lost, since he then immediately began talking about 159 ships being sunk — something the U.S. president usually says in connection with Iran.

Below is the full transcript of Trump’s answer to questions about Ukraine and Iran.

Question: Regarding your conversation with President Putin today: which war do you think will end sooner — in Iran or in Ukraine?

Answer: We talked more about the war in Ukraine, but he would like to be helpful. I said, “Before you help me, I want you to end your own war.” We had a good conversation. I’ve known him a long time. I think he was ready to make a deal some time ago. I think some people prevented him from doing that. But we spoke more about Ukraine.

Question: And which war do you think will end first?

Answer: That’s an interesting question. From you — very interesting. Which war will end first? I don’t know. Maybe they have similar timelines. I think that Ukraine, from a military standpoint, is defeated. You wouldn’t understand that from reading fake news, but from a military standpoint — look at their fleet. They had 159 ships. Now every ship is under water. Usually that’s considered a pretty good result.

Earlier, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said that Trump remains committed to reaching a deal on a settlement in Ukraine.