The US will sell weapons to Ukraine, the president said, with other Nato countries paying the bill – but otherwise specifics were scant. But, as Trump made clear, conversations with the Russian leader have slowly led him to conclude Putin has so far not been serious. “I go home and I tell the first lady: ‘I spoke with Vladimir today, we had a wonderful conversation,’” Trump said. At the end of February, the Ukrainian president was essentially kicked out of the White House, after an ugly televised row. Weapons shipments to Ukraine were halted, intelligence sharing stopped, and though both were resumed the relationship seemed fragile.