President Donald Trump on Monday expressed frustration about the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, opening a day of talks in Scotland with Britain’s Prime Minister by saying he was significantly speeding up the deadline for Russia to make peace and indicating disagreement with Israeli officials who have denied that anyone is starving in the war-torn enclave.

Trump said that he had seen pictures on TV of children in Gaza and said they “look very hungry” and that “we have to get the kids fed”. He repeatedly said he wanted to get more food in to the area, but largely blamed Hamas for stealing the aid and selling it — a contention the Israeli military has found no proof.

The President also reiterated his frustration with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia over the war in Ukraine, and said he had decided to shorten a 50-day deadline he set on July 14. Instead of giving Russia until early September to make peace or face a new round of sanctions, he said Moscow now had 10 or 12 days.

Trump’s comments on the two conflicts — which have ground on despite his campaign pledges to bring them to a swift end — came during a 75-minute question-and-answer session with reporters in which he slammed windmills, vowed to impose tariffs of about 15 or 20 per cent on goods from countries that haven’t reached a trade deal with the US, bragged about cutting taxes, and again dismissed MAGA demands for the release of the Epstein files as a Democrat-led “hoax”.

Trump and Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain were expected to discuss the wars as well as tariffs, a day after Trump reached a preliminary trade deal with the EU designed to avoid a costly economic war with America’s biggest trading bloc.

On Israel, Trump said he did not “particularly” agree with a recent assertion by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that there was no starvation in Gaza. But he complained that no one had thanked him for supplying aid to the devastated territory and falsely accused other nations of having given no money to help prevent the humanitarian crisis there. Just days ago, the US said it had approved $30 million in funding for an aid distribution system in Gaza backed by Israel and run mostly by US contractors, which has seen deadly violence erupt near its distribution sites.

But aid groups say the amount of food needs to increase substantially after months in which the Israeli government imposed a near total blockade of food and medicine into Gaza. Trump on Monday claimed that “no other nation gave money”. In fact, as of January, the EU had spent about $605 million on aid to Gaza since 2023, according to the European Commission.

Trump and Starmer met at Trump’s golf club in Turnberry and were expected to travel later Aberdeen for dinner at the President’s other club. There, they are expected to resume efforts to resolve a dispute about US tariffs on British steel and aluminum, which remain at 25 per cent. In June, UK and the US signed an agreement to resolve other trade issues.

Trump was asked if he agreed with Netanyahu’s remarks about concerns of mass starvation in Gaza being overstated and replied, “I don’t know. I mean, based on television, I would say not particularly because those children look very hungry.”

New York Times News Service and AP