Donald Trump slams Ukraine for refusing to make a ‘deal’ with its invader, Russia

Volodymyr Zelensky has refused to give up areas of his sovereign nation, which was invaded by Vladimir Putin’s troops in Feburary 2022.

Mr Trump, the Republican Party’s nominee for November’s US election, has consistently claimed Putin’s invasion would never have happened if he had remained president.

The former president has also insisted that he will end the war swiftly, should he win the US election again on November 5, though he has yet to specify how.

“I will get the war with Ukraine and Russia ended. If I’m president-elect, I will get it done before even becoming president,” he said during his televised debate against the Democratic Party’s nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, earlier this month.

 

Of course, any peace deal would need to specify whether Ukrainian territory currently occupied by Russia would be returned to its owner, or handed over to Putin.

Mr Trump has not explicitly indicated where he falls on that issue. But in new remarks today, he blamed Ukraine – and the United States – for the continuing conflict.

“I believe I will be able to make a deal between President Putin and President Zelensky quite quickly,” Mr Trump told reporters on Thursday, US time.

“What does that look like?” a reporter asked him.“I don’t want to tell you what that looks like,” he responded.

“A deal could have been made. There wouldn’t have been one person who’d died. And there wouldn’t have been one golden tower laying shattered on its side,” Mr Trump said.

“A deal could have been made if we’d had a competent president, instead of a president who egged it all on.

“Biden and Kamala allowed this to happen by feeding Zelensky money and munitions like no country has ever seen before.

“Every time he came to our country, he’d walk away with $60 billion dollars. He’s probably the greatest salesman on Earth.”

Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Mr Zelensky’s government has relied on help from the Western world, particularly the United States and the European Union, to fend off the Russian military, which vastly outnumbers Ukraine’s forces.

“Those cities are gone. They’re gone, and we continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refused to make a deal, Zelensky,” Mr Trump said, yesterday, of the various Ukrainian cities targeted by Putin.

“There was no deal that he could have made that wouldn’t have been better than the situation you have right now.

“You have a country that has been obliterated, not possible to be rebuilt. It’ll take hundreds of years to rebuild it. There’s not enough money to rebuild it if the whole world got together.

“If they made a bad deal, it would have been much better.

“They would have given up a little bit, and everybody would be living, and every building would be built, and every tower would be ageing for another 2000 years.”

Mr Trump also alluded to an interview Mr Zelensky gave to American magazine The New Yorker, in which Ukraine’s President suggested the Republican “doesn’t really know how to stop the war”.

He accused Mr Zelensky of making “nasty little dispersions” (sic: Mr Trump presumably meant to say “aspersions”).

The former US president went on to mock President Joe Biden’s speech to the United Nations’ general assembly.

“I watched this poor guy, yesterday, at the United Nations. He didn’t know what he was saying,” Mr Trump said.

“They just don’t know what to do. They’re locked into a situation. It’s sad. They just don’t know what to do.

“Because Ukraine is gone. It’s not Ukraine anymore. You can never replace those cities and towns, and you can never replace those dead people.”

Trump reveals Zelensky’s request for meeting

Today Mr Trump also posted a text message, from Ukraine’s deputy ambassador to the United States, requesting a private meeting with Mr Zelensky, on his social media channels.

It’s unclear why Mr Trump felt the need to share the text publicly. He did not provide any context when he posted it.

“Dear Donald, I hope you’re doing well,” Denys Sienik said in the message.

“I recall our recent phone call – it was really good. All of us in Ukraine want to end this war with a just peace. And we know that without America this is impossible to achieve.

“That’s why we have to strive to understand each other and remain in close contact. Days ago, we requested a meeting with you, and I really want to hear your thoughts directly, firsthand.

“You know I always speak with great respect about everything connected to you, and that’s how it should be. I can be in New York on Friday, which would be a good time to meet. I believe it’s important for us to have a personal contact and to understand each other 100 per cent. Let me know if you are in the city at that time.

“I would really like for our meeting to take place, as part of our efforts to help us end this war in a just way.”

‘Putin started this’: Harris responds

Mr Trump’s election opponent, Kamala Harris, offered her own view on the Ukraine-Russia war during remarks today.

“Putin started this war. And he could end it tomorrow, if he wanted to, if he simply withdrew his troops from Ukraine’s sovereign territory,” said Ms Harris.

“Of course, he has demonstrated no intention of doing that. Instead, he continues to assault civilian infrastructure and terrorise the people of Ukraine.

“We must work with the international community to secure a just and lasting peace. Nothing about the end of this war can be decided without Ukraine.”

She was dismissive of Mr Trump’s calls for a “deal” with Putin.

“These proposals are the same as those of Putin, and let us be clear, they are not proposals for peace,” she said.

“Instead, they are proposals for surrender, which is dangerous and unacceptable.”