Former President Donald Trump said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should have never allowed Russia to invade his country while adding that President Joe Biden bears responsibility for the conflict breaking out during an interview with the PBD Podcast released on Thursday.
Trump once again claimed that resolving the nearly three-year conflict would be one of his first orders of business as president-elect if he wins in November, noting that he has a “good relationship” with both Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump met Zelenskyy last month on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, while he has reportedly maintained close contact with Putin since leaving office.
Later in the podcast interview, though, Trump said Zelenskyy didn’t do enough to prevent Putin from attacking his country in February 2022, prompting a conflict that shows no signs of winding down, while appearing to take issue with the US sending more military aid to Kyiv to defend itself.
“I think Zelenskyy is one of the greatest salesmen I’ve ever seen. Every time he comes in, we give him a hundred billion dollars. Who else got that kind of money in history?” Trump asked. “That doesn’t mean I don’t want to help him because I feel very badly for those people but he should never have let that war start. The war is a loser.”
The conflict broke out when Russia invaded Ukraine and struck targets across the country on February 24, 2022.
But Trump told interviewer Patrick Bet-David it was Biden who “instigated” the war, adding that the conflict “should have been settled before it started.”
“It would have been so easy if we had a president with half a brain,” Trump said. “I do largely blame Biden. If you watch his words, his words were the exact opposite of what he should have been saying. He instigated that war.”
Many Democratic lawmakers and US allies abroad have been expressing concern about what a potential Trump victory would mean for the future of Ukraine and the US position on the war.
A new book authored by journalist Bob Woodward said Trump has spoken to the Russian leader “maybe as many as seven” times since he left office, citing a senior Trump aide.
In a recent interview with Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait at the Economic Club of Chicago, Trump declined to say whether he has talked to Putin.
“If I did it’s a smart thing,” Trump added.
Woodward’s book, War, also alleges Trump sent Putin Covid tests in 2020 for “his personal use.” Trump has denied the report.
The Republican presidential nominee also did not offer a direct response when asked if it would be in the best interest of the US for Ukraine to secure a victory against Russia during the ABC News presidential debate last month.
“I think it’s in the US best interest to get this war finished and just get it done,” he said. “Negotiate a deal. Because we have to stop all of these human lives from being destroyed.”