First lady Melania Trump helped convince president to get tough on Russia, he says

President Trump suggested Monday that first lady Melania may have helped convince him to ramp up military aid to Ukraine.

As he explained his decision to get tough on Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump said his wife was one of the people who directly pointed out to him that Putin always backs out of his promises following their phone calls over a peace deal.

“I go home, I tell the first lady, ‘You know, I spoke to Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation.’ She said, ‘Oh, really? another city was just hit,’” he said, recounting one of their recent calls.

The Kremlin has repeatedly fired ever-escalating waves of drone and missiles attacks at Ukraine following the calls with Trump. The American commander-in-chief announced that he was fed up with Moscow as he vowed to commit “billions of dollars” worth of weapons to Ukraine and levy 100% tariffs against Russia if Putin continues to reject a US-backed cease-fire agreement over the next 50 days.