Donald Trump blames Ukraine’s Zelensky for helping start war with Russia

Washington: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, was criticized by Donald Trump on Thursday for instigating his country’s conflict with Russia. This implies that Trump would likely drastically change US policy toward Ukraine in the event that he wins the election on November 5.

Throughout the campaign path, the previous president of the United States, a Republican, publicly criticized Zelenskyy and referred to him as “the greatest salesman on Earth” for having requested and accepted billions of dollars in US military assistance since the war began in 2022.

Trump has also criticized the Ukrainian president for not pursuing peace talks with Moscow and for suggesting that in order to reach a settlement, Ukraine could have to give up part of its territory to Russia—a suggestion that Kyiv finds intolerable.

Trump’s remarks on Thursday’s PBD Podcast with Patrick Bet-David went above and beyond what he had said before. Even though the war began when Russia invaded Ukrainian sovereign land, he claimed Zelenskyy was to responsible for both starting and failing to put a stop to it.

That’s not to say I don’t want to support him—I really care deeply about those folks. But he ought not to have allowed that conflict to begin. “The war is a loser,” said Trump.

In September, Zelenskyy met with Trump in New York to propose his “victory plan” for ending the conflict; the two men reported the conversation as amicable.

However, Trump’s public remarks indicate that if he beats Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris on November 5, he would try to reduce funding for Ukraine. Despite his frequent claims, he has not said how he plans to resolve the dispute before taking office in January.

Harris has vowed to keep helping Ukraine, and she has presented the country’s win as being crucial to US national security interests. She has often chastised Trump for his unwillingness to oppose Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia.