Trump ‘asked Putin for advice’ about whether the US should help arm Ukraine

Donald Trump reportedly asked Vladimir Putin for his advice on whether the US should help arm Ukraine at their first in-person meeting.

The Republican presidential nominee, who has been vocal in his criticism of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, reportedly asked Putin “what do you think?” when the pair met in Hamburg in 2017, according to The New York Times.

Trump has wildly claimed Putin “would never have gone into Ukraine” if he were president and has touted his “very good relationship” with him several times.

The meeting — which took place three years after Russian forces invaded the Crimean peninsula — was “an opening” for Putin to begin exploiting Trump’s “escalating political grudge” against Ukraine in a bid to weaken US support for the country, officials who were privy to the exchange have shared with the newspaper.

Trump had only been in office for seven months when the pair met. Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson attended the meeting, which was “a masterclass” by Putin to mold the relatively new president’s approach to Ukraine, according to The Times.

Putin told Trump that Ukraine was a “corrupt” and “fabricated country” and insisted Russia had “every right” to wield its authority over the nation,The Times reported.

Trump reportedly told Putin he was considering giving weapons to Ukraine and asked: “What do you think?”

The Russian leader said that would be “a mistake.” Ukraine would only ask for more, he reportedly warned Trump. According to three American officials who were in Hamburg, the former president did not push back.

Tillerson reportedly said to “nervous” White House aides after the meeting: “We’ve got work to do to change the president’s mind on Ukraine.”

Fiona Hill, a member of Trump’s