Former President Donald Trump faulted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Thursday over Russia’s unprovoked, bloody invasion of his country in February 2022.
During a riff about the state of the US under the Harris-Biden administration, Trump decried the billions in aid that Washington has funneled to Kyiv and declared that Zelensky “should never have let that war start.”
“I think Zelensky is one of the greatest salesmen I’ve seen,” the 78-year-old mused on the PDB Podcast with host Patrick Bet-David.
“Every time he comes in, we give him $100 billion. Who else got that kind of money in history?
“That doesn’t mean I don’t want to help him, because I feel very badly for those people,” the Republican nominee added, “but he should never have let that war start. That war’s a loser, Ukraine, remember, is not Ukraine anymore.”
Trump did not elaborate further on how he believes Zelensky, 46, failed to avert the 32-month-old war, instead reserving his sharpest criticisms for President Biden, 81.
“This should have been settled before it started. It could have. It would have been so easy. If we had a president with half a brain, it would have been easy to settle,” Trump contended.
“I do largely blame Biden,” he went on. “He instigated that war … [Russian leader Vladimir] Putin’s no angel, but everything Biden said was wrong. That should have never happened.”
Throughout the 2024 campaign, Trump has been adamant that the Ukraine war would never have begun if he was still president and claimed that he could end it within 24 hours, an assertion that has drawn skepticism from Kyiv.
Russia annexed Crimea under former President Barack Obama and invaded Ukraine under Biden, a point that Trump has repeatedly emphasized.
Last month, Trump met with Zelensky at Trump Tower, during which the former president said he had a “very good relationship” with both the Ukrainian leader and Putin.
“I hope we have more good relations between us,” Zelensky shot back.
Trump has had up to seven calls with Putin since leaving the White House, according to reporter Bob Woodward’s latest book “War.” The former president has not denied that report.
Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, had rattled Ukraine with his public plan to end the war by establishing demilitarized zones between the two warring nations and having Ukraine pledge not to join NATO.
Zelensky called Vance “too radical” in response.
Despite Trump’s gripes with the tranche of aid the US has sent to Kyiv, the 45th president expressed profound sympathy for the Ukrainian people.
“Every city, almost, is knocked down to the ground … all those beautiful golden domes are laying on their side smashed to smithereens,” Trump told Bet-David. “You go into the city and every building is demolished. It looks like a demolition crew went through.”
Since his 2016 campaign, Trump has been dogged by criticisms from the left that he has been too cozy with Putin, 72.
During his first administration, however, Trump green-lit lethal military aid for Ukraine, something his predecessor did not do.
Last week, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte shrugged off European concerns about a second Trump term.
“Really, stop worrying about a Trump presidency,” the former Dutch prime minister, who became the NATO boss at the start of this month, told reporters in London. “We do not know who will win.”