US President Donald Trump appeared to take a combative tone with Kyiv’s key European supporters, telling them they should put more financial pressure on Russia and its main ally, China, to force the Kremlin to end its war on Ukraine, a White House official said.
European leaders called “President Trump into their ‘Coalition of the Willing’ meeting,” the White House official said of the phone call on September 4 following the Paris gathering of Kyiv’s backers.
“President Trump emphasized that Europe must stop purchasing Russian oil that is funding the war — as Russia received 1.1 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in fuel sales from the EU in one year,” the official said.
The official added that Trump also said in the phone call that “European leaders must place economic pressure on China for