Donald Trump has said Vladimir Putin was “doing what anybody would do” after Russia launched a massive missile and drone strike on Ukraine days after the US cut off vital intelligence and military aid to Kyiv.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday Trump said he finds it “easier” to work with Russia than Ukraine and that Putin “wants to end the war”.
“I’m finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine. And they don’t have the cards,” Trump said. “In terms of getting a final settlement, it may be easier dealing with Russia.”
Asked whether the Russian leader was taking advantage of the pause in US intelligence sharing and military aid to Ukraine, Trump replied: “I actually think he is doing what anybody else would do.”
Putin invaded in 2014 seizing Crimea. Ukraine did not attack Russia.
Putin invaded Donbas and Luhansk just months later. Ukraine signed multiple peace deals which Putin violated at that time.
Putin performed a full scale invasion of Ukraine in Feb 2022.
Nothing about Putin has offered peace terms for Ukraine that Putin honors. He’ll keep violating any “peace” deals until he controls all of Ukraine or he’s dead.
So remind me again what happened in Donetsk and luhansk prior to Russia crossing the border?
It was at peace. That changed when Russian crossed the border as “little green men” unmarked Russian troops started the hot war there. Putin even admitted this was Russia:
“After two months of denial, on 17 April 2014, Russian president Vladimir Putin confirmed that the Russian military had been operating in Ukraine.[9][10] Furthermore, numerous sources, including Russian state-owned media, have confirmed that the little green men were a mix of operatives from the Special Operations Forces and various other units of the Spetsnaz GRU. It likely also included paratroopers of the 45th Guards Spetsnaz Brigade of the Russian Airborne Forces,[11][12][13] as well as mercenaries from the Russian state-funded Wagner Group.[14][15] While their status as soldiers acting under the orders of the Russian government was continually denied, their nationality was not. Alexander Borodai of the unrecognized Donetsk People’s Republic stated that 50,000 Russian citizens had fought in Ukraine’s Donbas by August 2015 and argued that they should receive the same benefits as Russia’s other war veterans, though he maintained that the Russian government did not send them.[16]” source
And nations are now realizing that Trump doesn’t fall far from the tree. He just prefers assets to land.
Make no mistake, Trump wants land too (and even more so the strategic power it affords, such as control of trade routes). That’s why he’s threatening to annex Greenland, the Panama canal zone, and Canada.
Source for 1? And regarding 3, Minsk II was violated by Putin himself when he choose to invade Ukraine in February 2022 saying Ukraine committed genocide in Donbas with no proof of the same.
Received the PM?
I will PM you source for 1 since I do not really know the rules regarding posting NSFW content in the comments. Minsk II was already null and void by the time he invaded due to Ukraine violating it.