This quote is fabricated and appears only in Russian propaganda sources.
A quote from Donald Trump is being rapidly circulated by pro-Russian sources claiming that it was he who convinced Vladimir Putin not to shell the Ukrainian capital while European leaders were there, thus saving their lives.
As is often the case with fake Russian propaganda posts, the source of the quote is not indicated in any of the publications. Therefore, we checked Donald Trump’s profile on the Truth Social social network, as well as a number of credible American media outlets and were unable to find any confirmation of Trump’s statement. On the contrary, on May 11 — that is, exactly when this quote began to spread online — the president did not call Putin «his friend» at all, but expressed irritation with his approach to peace talks with Ukraine and wrote that he was «too busy celebrating Victory Day».
As a reminder, the meeting of the «coalition of the willing» in Kyiv was attended by French President Emmanuel Macron, Polish and British Prime Ministers Donald Tusk and Keir Starmer, as well as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen also joined the meeting online. Following the conversation, the leaders published a joint statement in which they expressed solidarity with Ukraine and strongly urged Russia to agree to a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire. If Russia does not agree to this proposal, European leaders promised, together with the United States, to increase sanctions pressure on the state.
We recently refuted a similar fabricated quote in the article Fake: Putin Addressed Europeans On a Croatian TV Channel.
