According to the US president, Vladimir Putin’s inability to fully control Ukraine is a result of Trump’s victory against Kamala Harris.
Donald Trump, the U.S. President, believes his leadership is the primary reason Russia hasn’t seized Ukraine.
In a Tuesday interview with ABC News, Trump stated that Putin considered Ukraine “the apple of his eye” and planned to conquer the entire nation. However, Trump claims Putin was unable to do so because Trump won the election against Kamala Harris in November.
“I believe that if I hadn’t won the election, he would have taken all of Ukraine. I think he would have taken all of Ukraine,” the US president stated.
Trump attributed Putin’s opportunity in Ukraine to the U.S.’s troubled withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, blaming it on a “group of losers” within Joe Biden’s administration.
“He witnessed the events in Afghanistan and thought, ‘This is my opportunity,’” he said. “It was one of the biggest embarrassments of our lives, and possibly in our country’s history.”
When asked if he thought Putin desired peace, Trump answered positively. He then said, “Let’s just say, he respects me. And I believe because of me, he’s not going to take over the whole [of Ukraine] – but it would be his decision, his choice, to take over all of Ukraine.”
Furthermore, Trump declined to comment on whether the U.S. would halt military aid to Ukraine if a peace agreement wasn’t reached. “I want to keep that a big secret, because I don’t want to jeopardize any negotiation,” he explained.
Trump’s remarks followed his Monday suggestion that Ukraine would be “crushed very shortly” by Russia’s pressure, which he described as “a big war machine.”
The U.S. president’s comments come as Washington and Moscow engage in ongoing direct discussions aimed at achieving a negotiated resolution to the Ukraine conflict, with both parties characterizing the engagement as productive.
According to various media reports, a peace agreement proposed by Washington would include U.S. recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea, a “freezing” of the conflict along the current front lines, and acknowledgment of Moscow’s control over significant portions of the four former Ukrainian regions that voted to join Russia.
The proposed deal would also reportedly prevent Ukraine from joining NATO and begin a gradual removal of sanctions against Russia. While Ukraine’s President Vladimir Zelensky has consistently rejected any territorial concessions to Moscow, Trump has indicated his willingness to relinquish Kiev’s claim to Crimea, which voted to become part of Russia in 2014.