LONDON, July 28. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin always got along well and suggested a Ukraine deal was still possible.

"I've always gotten along with President Putin. I had a great relationship with him," he told reporters during a meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland.

"And he went through the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax too," Trump added, referring to the reports spread by the Democrats that falsely accused Russia of meddling in US elections to support Trump.

"We used to talk about it. We used to say, you know, it's too bad we really can't do anything between our countries," he went on to say.

"I was very tough on Putin in one way, but we got along very well," the US president continued.

Turning to the conflict in Ukraine, Trump said, "I never really thought this would happen. I thought we'd be able to negotiate something."

He said he hoped it is still possible to find a solution through diplomacy.

"Maybe that'll still happen," he said.

For now, according to the US president, Ukraine settlement talks haven’t made any meaningful progress.

"It's very late down the process, so I'm disappointed," he said.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian television host Pavel Zarubin on July 20 that Russia is ready to move quickly toward a settlement in Ukraine. For Moscow, the main thing is to achieve its goals, but the speed of this process depends not only on Russia.