President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he had approved sending U.S. defensive weapons to Ukraine and was considering additional sanctions on Moscow, underscoring his frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the growing death toll in Russia's war with Ukraine, Reuters reported.

Trump, who pledged as a presidential candidate to end the war within a day, has not been able to follow through on that promise and efforts by his administration to broker peace have come up short.

Trump directed his ire at Putin on Tuesday during a meeting with cabinet officials at the White House.

"I'm not happy with Putin. I can tell you that much right now," Trump said, noting that Russian and Ukrainian soldiers were dying in the thousands.

"We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin ... He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless," Trump said, according to Reuters.