 "US President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's meeting in the Oval Office of the White House was widely seen as an ambush. File image/AFP")
US President Donald Trump, facing criticism from Kyiv over his proposed peace plan, said the Russia–Ukraine war was the result of weak leadership in Washington and Kyiv, arguing the conflict “would have NEVER HAPPENED” under stronger stewardship.
“The war between Russia and Ukraine is a violent and terrible one that, with strong and proper U.S. and Ukrainian leadership, would have NEVER HAPPENED. It began long before I took office for a second term, during the Sleepy Joe Biden Administration, and has only gotten worse," Trump wrote on social media.
The Russia–Ukraine crisis traces back to 2014, when mass protests in Kyiv toppled President Viktor Yanukovych, prompting Russia to annex Crimea following a disputed referendum. Soon after, fighting erupted in Donetsk and Luhansk between Ukrainian forces and Moscow-backed separatists. Despite attempts at peace through the Minsk agreements, clashes persisted. The conflict escalated dramatically in February 2022 when Russia launched a full-scale invasion, turning the situation into a prolonged and brutal war.
Trump was not in office during either the 2014 annexation or the 2022 invasion; he won the presidency in 2016 and exited in 2020.
In his latest remarks, Trump reiterated his long-standing claim that Joe Biden’s “weak leadership” emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Putin would never have attacked! It was only when he saw Sleepy Joe in action that he said, ‘Now is my chance!’ The rest is history, and so it continues. I INHERITED A WAR THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED, A WAR THAT IS A LOSER FOR EVERYONE, ESPECIALLY THE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE THAT HAVE SO NEEDLESSLY DIED,” he wrote.
Trump also criticised European countries for continuing to buy Russian oil, arguing that such purchases undermined sanctions intended to pressure Moscow. He further claimed Ukraine had shown “zero gratitude” for US efforts.
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View All“UKRAINE ‘LEADERSHIP’ HAS EXPRESSED ZERO GRATITUDE FOR OUR EFFORTS, AND EUROPE CONTINUES TO BUY OIL FROM RUSSIA. THE USA CONTINUES TO SELL MASSIVE $AMOUNTS OF WEAPONS TO NATO, FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UKRAINE (CROOKED JOE GAVE EVERYTHING, FREE, FREE, FREE, INCLUDING ‘BIG’ MONEY!),” he said, accusing Biden of sending billions in US military aid to Kyiv.