Watch | Trump brushes off question on Russia ceasefire: ‘What if a bomb drops on your head?’

When a reporter asked Vance what would happen if Moscow were to violate a ceasefire agreement, Trump took the question himself after Vance repeated it for him.

“What if anything? What if a bomb drops on your head right now? What if they break it? I don’t know, they broke it with [former US President Joe] Biden, because Biden… [Russia doesn’t] respect him. They didn’t respect [former US President Barack] Obama,” Trump said.

“They respect me,” he added.

Trump went on to assert that “[Russian leader Vladimir] Putin went through a hell of a lot with [him].”

Reflecting on past US-Russia relations, Trump said, “Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me, he went through a phony witch-hunt, when they used him and Russia… Russia, Russia, Russia. You ever hear [sic] of that deal? That was a phony Hunter Biden, Joe Biden scam,” referencing the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential elections.

He called the allegations a “scam” that Putin “had to put up with.”

Trump then suggested that while Putin may have broken agreements with previous US presidents, “he didn’t break’em with [him].”

Turning to Zelenskyy, Trump pressed him on negotiations with Russia, saying, “[Putin] wants to make a deal. I don’t know if he can make a deal. The problem is, I’ve empowered you [Zelenskyy] to be a tough guy, and I don’t think you’d be a tough guy without the United States. Your people are very brave.”

Zelenskyy quietly responded with a “thank you.”

Trump then issued a stark ultimatum: “But you either gotta make a deal, or we’re out. And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out. I don’t think it’s gonna be pretty, but you’ll fight it out. But you don’t have the cards, but once we sign that deal, you’re in a much better position, but you’re not acting at all thankful.”

And the end – it would, the president added, be “great television”.