Donald Trump has blamed the Kremlin for starting the war in Ukraine and told Vladimir Putin that continuing his war of attrition is “destroying Russia.”
His comment hinted at a possible shift in Trump’s stance toward the war, which has raged in Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion almost three years ago. On the campaign trail last year, Trump blamed Kyiv’s desire to join NATO for triggering the war.
While the new U.S. President failed to mention Ukraine in his inaugural address, he slammed the Biden administration for providing “unlimited funding to the defense of foreign borders.”
However, while this may have set alarm bells ringing in Kyiv, Trump was seemingly more supportive later when speaking at a rally and in the Oval Office.
“It should have never started, the war with Ukraine. Russia should have never started it,” he said, openly pinning the blame on Moscow for the conflict.
Pressed on his campaign pledge to end the war in a day, Trump deadpanned: “Well, this is only half a day—I have another half a day.”
Trump also told reporters that he planned to talk to Putin, adding: “He can’t be thrilled—he’s not doing so well. I mean, he’s grinding it out, but most people thought that war would have been over in about one week and now you’re into three years.”
Continuing, Trump said: “I think he’d be very well off to end the war—we have numbers that almost a million Russian soldiers have been killed [and] about 700,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed. Russia’s bigger; they have more soldiers to lose, but that’s no way to run a country.”
Trump also suggested that Kyiv was already prepared to head to the negotiating table. “Zelenskyy wants to make a deal; I don’t know if Putin does… He should make a deal. I think he’s destroying Russia by not making a deal. I think Russia’s going to be in big trouble.”
Trump’s strongly-worded comments are a departure from previous statements—in the past, the president has claimed that Russia was justified in its invasion on account of Ukraine’s NATO ambitions. Trump has also previously praised Putin, describing his recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk as being independent of Ukraine as a stroke of “genius.”
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, was quick to praise the vision outlined by Trump in his inauguration speech, saying: “President Trump is always decisive, and the peace-through-strength policy he announced provides an opportunity to strengthen American leadership and achieve a long-term and just peace, which is the top priority.”
Despite his apparent determination to resolve the war in Ukraine, Trump was more damning in his assessment of NATO. Having already threatened to withdraw the U.S. from the Alliance, Trump doubled down on his demands for European countries to step up their defense spending.
“NATO has to pay more money,” he said. “NATO has to pay 5%.” Trump also claimed that the U.S. was spending $200 billion more than NATO, branding the disparity “ridiculous” due to the ocean separating the U.S. from Europe. “They’ve got to equalize,” he said.
