Former President Donald Trump painted a bleak picture of Ukraine on Wednesday, describing the country as “demolished” and its people as “dead,” raising questions about his potential approach to the conflict if re-elected.
Speaking at an economic event in North Carolina, Trump argued that Ukraine should have made concessions to Russian President Vladimir Putin before Russia’s February 2022 invasion. “Any deal — the worst deal — would’ve been better than what we have now,” Trump stated, suggesting that even significant territorial concessions would have been preferable to the current situation.
Trump’s comments came in response to recent criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who told The New Yorker that Trump “doesn’t really know how to stop the war even if he might think he knows how.” Trump began his remarks by addressing this, saying, “The president of Ukraine is in our country and he’s making little nasty aspersions toward your favorite president, me.”
The former president described Ukraine as a country in ruins outside its capital, Kyiv, short on soldiers and losing population to war deaths and emigration. He questioned whether Ukraine has any remaining leverage in potential peace negotiations.
Trump laid blame for the conflict on President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, accusing them of encouraging the war by pledging to help Ukraine defend itself rather than pushing for territorial concessions to Russia. “Biden and Kamala allowed this to happen by feeding Zelenskyy money and munitions like no country has ever seen before,” Trump said.
These remarks follow a recent debate in which Trump pointedly refused to say whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war. On Tuesday, he praised Russia’s military prowess, saying that wars are “what they do.”
Trump’s comments contrast sharply with the current U.S. administration’s stance. Zelenskyy is currently in the U.S. to attend the U.N. General Assembly and is expected to present what he calls a victory plan for the war, including requests for long-range Western weapons to strike Russian targets.
While Trump did not directly attack Putin’s reasoning for the invasion, he suggested that the conflict would not have started had he been in office, adding that Putin is “no angel.”
As the 2024 presidential election approaches, Trump’s views on the Ukraine conflict and U.S. foreign policy continue to diverge significantly from those of the current administration, potentially signaling a major shift in U.S. approach to the region if he were to return to office.
