President Donald Trump said Russia is in a stronger military position in its war on Ukraine and chided European leaders for what he called excessive dialog that’s produced scant results in his latest broadside against allies on the continent.

Trump made the comments in a wide-ranging interview with Politico published early Tuesday. Asked whether Ukraine has lost the war, the president pointed to the swaths of land that Russia’s military has occupied in the country.

The American and European positions on Ukraine have sharply diverged since Trump returned to office earlier this year, exposing deep strains in the transatlantic alliance that has defined the global order since the end of World War II.

The new U.S. administration ended its financial support for Kyiv, leaving Europe to foot a mounting bill for supporting Ukraine to deter Russia’s full-scale invasion, currently approaching its fourth year.

As he attempted to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, Trump has also increasingly appeared more sympathetic to Russian demands and largely shut European allies out of his diplomatic efforts.

Last week, a U.S. national security strategy document signed by the president said European governments “hold unrealistic expectations for the war.”

Trump doubled down on that claim on Tuesday.

“Russia has the upper hand. And they always did. They’re much bigger and stronger in that sense,” the president told Politico. “I give the people of Ukraine and the military of Ukraine tremendous credit for the bravery and the fighting all of that. But at some point size will win, generally, and this is a massive size.”

Governments across the continent have committed unprecedented amounts of cash and political capital to support Kyiv as they try to deal with the conflict that has reshaped the continents’ security architecture.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said earlier on Tuesday that elements of the new U.S. security strategy are unacceptable to Europe, advising Trump to refrain from a go-it-alone approach.

“It confirms my assessment that we in Europe, and therefore also in Germany, must become much more independent from the U.S. in terms of security policy,” Merz said.

Trump alluded to the magnitude of Russia’s military as a factor likely to help the country prevail in the conflict.

“They lost territory long before I got here,” the president said. “They lost a whole strip of sea front, a big sea front. They lost a lot of land and it’s very good land that they lost. You certainly wouldn’t say that it’s a victory.”

Russia’s territorial gains in Ukraine came at an immense economic and human cost with more than 1.5 million troops killed or wounded on both sides, according to Western estimates. Still, almost four years since starting his full-scale invasion, Russian President Vladimir Putin has failed to take full control of the entire eastern region of Donbas in a war that he meant to end in a few days.

In recent weeks, the U.S. has intensified efforts to forge a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said negotiators remain divided over territory. There also needs to be further discussion on U.S. security guarantees, he said.

“Well, he’s gonna have to get on the ball and start accepting things,” Trump told the Politico interview. “You know, when you’re losing, ’cause he’s losing.”

The U.S. president criticized Europe on multiple fronts, saying that the countries haven’t done an adequate job in finding peace between Russia and Ukraine. He also deepened criticism of the continent along cultural lines.

“They talk too much. And they’re not producing” said Trump, who had pledged to end the war within 24 hours of taking the office in January. “We’re talking about Ukraine. They talk but they don’t produce. And the war just keeps going on and on.”

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—With assistance from Piotr Skolimowski and Ben Sills.

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