Ukraine war latest: Trump says 'Putin's going to drop out' if Europe listens to him on oil

Another line to bring you from that wide-ranging news conference, and Donald Trump said he is trying to get Bagram air base in Afghanistan back.

The Soviet-built airstrip was the main base for American forces in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks until their withdrawal in 2021.

"One of the biggest air bases in the world, we gave it to them for nothing," he told reporters.

"We're trying to get it back because they need things from us, we want that base back.

"But one of the reasons we want the base is, as you know, it's an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons."

However, an Afghan foreign ministry official said the country was not open to such a move.

"Afghanistan and the United States need to engage with one another... without the United States maintaining any military presence in Afghanistan," Zakir Jalal wrote in a post on X.

Back to that news conference with Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump at Chequers yesterday, where our political editor Beth Rigby asked the US president if it was time to "squeeze" and "scare" Vladimir Putin.

Trump replied by saying that "very simply" if the oil price drops, "Putin's going to drop out, he's going to have no choice, he's going to drop out of that war".

The president went on to refer to European nations that are buying oil from Russia, saying "you can't do that".

"I'm willing to do other things, but not when the people that I'm fighting for are buying oil from Russia," Trump added.

"If the oil price comes down, very simply, Russia will settle."

Trump previously said the war in Ukraine would end if all NATO countries stopped buying oil from Russia.

Turkey has been the third largest buyer of Russian oil since 2023, after China and India, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, with fellow members Hungary and Slovakia also buying energy supplies from Moscow.

Watch Rigby's question to Trump below

Shortly after Donald Trump made those comments on Vladimir Putin (see previous post), Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on social media calling for pressure to be ramped up on the Russian president.

"Strong pressure does work," he wrote in a post on X after thanking Australia for lowering the price cap on Russian oil and sanctioning vessels in its shadow fleet.

"Now we look forward to a strong 19th EU sanctions package and decisive steps from the United States.

"Russia will stop the war only if pressure against it is sufficiently painful."

Donald Trump took aim at Vladimir Putin when asked about the Russian president in his news conference at Chequers yesterday afternoon.

He told reporters that Putin "really let me down" but still maintained optimism that the US will be able to help bring the war between Russia and Ukraine to an end.

Read his answer in full below:

I'm very honoured to tell you that we've solved seven wars, seven wars, wars that were unsolvable, wars that couldn't be negotiated or done. The US has done seven of them. The one that I thought would be easiest would be because of my relationship with President Putin. But he's let me down. He's really let me down. But we'll see how that turns out. I thought it might be among the easiest of the group, but we settle just about every conflict. And, as you know, we're working very hard on Israel and Gaza. All that's happening over there, complex. But it's going to get done, we'll get it done and likewise, Russia and Ukraine will get done.

You can also watch the moment in the video below.

Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

Donald Trump is back on American soil after his state visit to the United Kingdom, but the moment didn't pass without the US president telling reporters his thoughts on Vladimir Putin.

Speaking alongside the UK's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump told reporters Putin has "let me down" and claimed that Russian soldiers "are being killed at a higher rate than the Ukrainian soldiers".

His comments came as Volodymyr Zelenskyy once again called on increased pressure on Russia to end the war, adding that Ukraine is "looking forward" to the EU's 19th sanctions package.

Stay with us as we bring you updates throughout the day.

And catch up on the state visit with the video below...

We're pausing our coverage of the war in Ukraine for the day - thank you for following this live page.

Scroll back to catch up on the day's main developments, including Volodymyr Zelenskyy's plea for "protection of the European skies" from Ukraine's allies as he revealed Russia had used more than 3,500 drones, 190 missiles and 2,500 aerial bombs during attacks on the country since the start of September.

Zelenskyy also told Paste BN's Yalda Hakim that Vladimir Putin was tricking Donald Trump as he called for a "clear position" from the US president on ending the war during a sit-down interview in Kyiv.

Watch the moment Zelenskyy urged Trump to get tough with Moscow...

And read our full story on the interview...

Here are some of the latest images from Ukraine's capital city Kyiv.

They show emergency services working to extinguish a fire at a supermarket that was hit during a Russian aerial attack.

Alexander Lukashenko says Belarus and Russia are "not planning to threaten anyone" after wrapping up the end of five days of war drills.

The war games have unnerved some surrounding countries and prompted international concern as they coincided with Russian violations of Polish and Romanian airspace.

"We are practising everything there," Lukashenko told Belarusian state agency Belta.

"They [the West] know this too, we are not hiding it. From firing conventional small arms to nuclear warheads. 

"Again, we must be able to do all this. Otherwise, why would they be on Belarusian territory?

"But we are absolutely not planning to threaten anyone with this."

The Belarusian defence ministry confirmed in a statement that the use of tactical nuclear weapons had been rehearsed along with the deployment of Russia's intermediate-range Oreshnik ballistic missile.

Ahead of Donald Trump's second state visit to the UK this week, lead world news presenter Yalda Hakim has asked Volodymyr Zelenskyy what message he wants to send to the US president.

He says there are three things that he hopes can be discussed between Trump and Sir Keir Starmer over the coming days, including on the key issue of security guarantees for Ukraine.

Watch his response here...