The White House has said president Donald Trump “believes” Vladimir Putin is winning the war with Ukraine.The statement follows a Washington Post report that Mr Trump told European leaders after a phone call with Mr Putin that the Russian president is not ready to end the war.

Trump still wants to establish closer ties with Putin, and the White House will likely revisit the possibility of a meeting before long.

P resident Trump asked an aide to dim the lights of the Oval Office, and then, with a line of reporters in the room, proceeded to ambush the leader of South Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa and his delegation watched in stunned silence at footage that Trump believed supported his claims that Ramaphosa’s government was turning a blind eye to violence against white Afrikaners.

Donald Trump confronted President Cyril Ramaphosa during a tense exchange in the White House on Wednesday, with a series of contested claims about the killings of white farmers in South Africa.

Context: There have been killings of white South Africans, but police statistics show they are not killed at a higher rate than other South Africans.