Ukraine “may not survive” the war with Russia, Donald Trump has said on the eve of high-stakes talks between Kyiv and Washington.
Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, the U.S. president was asked to respond to Polish President Andrzej Duda’s warning that Ukraine would not survive without American support.
“Well, it may not survive anyway,” said Trump. “But we have some weaknesses with Russia,” he added. “You know, it takes two.”
The U.S. president also fired back at suggestions that he had been soft on Moscow. “Remember this, I’m the one that stopped the Russian pipeline, Nord Stream 2,” he said.
“I stopped it. Biden came in and he approved it. I’m the one that put sanctions on Russia, I’m the one that gave the Javelins against Russia. No, I have been very tough.”
Continuing, Trump claimed that no other leader had adopted a harder stance on Russia. “Putin would be the first to say it,” he said. “Nobody’s been tougher on Russia than Donald Trump, nobody.”
Trump’s remarks come as the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, heads to Saudi Arabia to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman later today—previously, the Saudi leader helped negotiate prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine and hosted talks between the U.S. and Russia last month.
Joining Zelenskyy in Saudi Arabia will be his chief of staff as well as Ukraine’s foreign and defense ministers.
While Zelenskyy himself will not meet with U.S. officials, his team is set to meet American diplomats on Tuesday for crunch talks.
Relations between Kyiv and Washington have plummeted to an all-time low, with Donald Trump ordering the cessation of military aid and intelligence sharing following a disastrous televised meeting with Zelenskyy at the end of February.
The diplomats are set to discuss a potential peace plan while resuming negotiations concerning a minerals deal between the two countries.
