US President Donald Trump’s pivot away from Ukraine has triggered fresh questions about his attachment to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the man a top American envoy flattered on Wednesday as a “humanitarian”.
Trump has cast his dealings with Putin as part of a mega-deal that has secured the release of American detainee Stephen Hubbard – and which Trump says will end Russia’s war on Ukraine.
At the same time, he has repeatedly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and called for him to be replaced.
“I do things that nobody else can do,” Trump told a reporter in the Oval Office on Tuesday when asked about Hubbard.