The former president of the United States and current Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, once again made statements about the war in Ukraine during a speech at a rally this Wednesday (25) in North Carolina.
In his speech, according to information from Associated Press (AP)the Republican described Ukraine as a country in ruins – “demolished” – and harshly criticized the government of Democratic President Joe Biden, stating that the current continued US military support for the Eastern European country is one of the main reasons for the extension of the invasion carried out by the Russian dictator, Vladimir Putin. Trump suggested that, under his leadership, the war could have been avoided with a deal, even if it was unfavorable to Ukraine.
According to Trump, the current situation in Ukraine is one of total destruction. “What do we have now? A country in ruins. People are dead, cities are destroyed,” he said. For him, Ukraine should have made concessions to Russia at the beginning of the conflict, in 2022, which, in his view, would have preserved “lives and infrastructure”.
“Any deal — the worst deal — would have been better than what we have now,” said the Republican, reinforcing that “if they [a Ucrânia] If they had made a bad deal, today everyone would be alive and every building would be standing.”
Trump, who has frequently criticized Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, said the country’s territories could have been ceded to avoid the bloodshed that followed the Russian invasion.
“Ukraine is gone,” Trump said. “It’s not Ukraine anymore. You can never replace these cities and towns, and you can never replace the dead people, so many dead people,” the Republican added, citing destruction caused in the country.
“There really is nothing the Ukrainian people can come back for. And this didn’t need to happen. The buildings are destroyed. The cities are gone. They’re gone, and we continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal : Zelensky”, said the Republican.
While directly criticizing Joe Biden, Trump suggested that the current president is merely “fueling the war” by providing money and weapons to Ukraine.
“Biden and Kamala allowed this to happen by feeding Zelensky money and ammunition like never before,” Trump said, arguing that the US military support policy is prolonging the suffering of the Ukrainian people. For him, the government of Biden and his current vice, Kamala Harris, who is Trump’s opponent in the race for the White House, should have pressured Ukraine to accept an agreement with Russia, instead of investing in war.
Response to Zelensky’s comments
At the rally, Trump also rebutted recent criticism made by Zelensky. During his visit to the United States to participate in the United Nations General Assembly, the Ukrainian president criticized some Republicans, including JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, who suggested ceding territories to end the Russian invasion.
Zelensky had called Vance and other Republicans’ ideas “too radical” and suggested that Trump “doesn’t really know how to stop the war.” Trump did not let Zelensky’s response go unnoticed and reacted ironically: “It’s something we have to discuss quickly, because the president of Ukraine is in our country and is making nasty little insinuations against his favorite president: me,” he said.
Regarding the dictator Putin, Trump adopted a cautious stance, stating only that the Russian is “not an angel”.
While Trump criticizes Biden and suggests an immediate Ukraine deal with Russia, the Democratic government continues to support the Ukrainian government by sending more military and diplomatic aid. For Biden, the defeat of Ukraine could “mean a dangerous advance for global stability”, as it would encourage Russia and other authoritarian regimes to advance into neighboring territories.
Zelensky is presenting his so-called “Victory Plan” to Biden this Thursday (26), which includes a request for more Western weapons, especially long-range weapons, to combat Russian advances in eastern Ukraine.
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