President Trump on Friday backtracked on his earlier claim that Ukraine “started” the ongoing three-year war with Russia. At the same time, he insisted that Moscow could have been so easily deterred from invading its western neighbor.
President Donald Trump has retracted his previous claim that Ukraine “started” the ongoing war with Russia, instead stating that Moscow could have been “so easily deterred” from invading. Speaking on The Brian Kilmeade Show on Fox News Radio, Trump insisted that both former President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made critical missteps. “Russia attacked, but they shouldn’t have let them attack, because they wouldn’t have attacked if you had people that knew what they were doing,” he stated. Trump further asserted “That should never have been a war, and all those dead people shouldn’t be dead, and all those cities shouldn’t be demolished right now.”
“Every time I say, ‘Oh, it’s not Russia’s fault, I always get slammed by the fake news.’ But I’m telling you, [former President Joe] Biden said the wrong things. [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky said the wrong things,” Trump, 78, told Fox News Radio’s “The Brian Kilmeade Show.” (New York Post)
Talks on Ukrainian Children and Criticism of Zelensky
Trump also suggested he would negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the release of thousands of Ukrainian children abducted during the conflict. Additionally, in a Truth Social post, he criticized Zelensky, referring to him as “a Dictator without Elections” and warning that “Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left.” Meanwhile, tensions between the U.S. and Ukraine have risen over a rejected deal involving rare earth minerals. Zelensky dismissed an initial U.S. proposal, citing insufficient security guarantees. In response, U.S. officials have put forward a revised offer, with Trump’s special envoy, Keith Kellogg, concluding talks in Kyiv.