“This already a sign that he, at least openly, is not a supporter of appeasement of Russia through Ukrainian territorial concessions,” Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign relations committee, told POLITICO.
According to Merezhko, Trump may still have illusions that the Russian invasion can be stopped through an agreement with Putin. “If he becomes president, this illusion will quickly pass when he realizes that Putin is not interested in agreements, he is only interested in one thing — the destruction of Ukraine’s statehood,” Merezhko said.
Trump used the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion to make Biden appear weak, saying that Putin would have never invaded if Trump himself was president. Biden, for his part, called Putin a war criminal, who will not stop if he gets Ukraine and would attack other countries of Europe, as he is aiming to “restore his Soviet empire.”
Trump then said that Ukrainians, who fight for their independence and sovereignty against the Russian invasion “are being killed so needlessly, so stupidly.”
“Putin’s terms are not acceptable. But look, this is a war that never should have started if we had a leader in this war. Biden is giving $200 billion or more to Ukraine. That’s a lot of money. Every time Zelenskyy comes to this country, he walks away with $60 billion. The greatest salesman ever,” Trump said.
Trump’s allies in Congress held up Ukraine’s $60 billion supplemental aid package for six months — a delay which cost Ukrainian territory, and lives. He painted Ukraine aid as if it was a failed investment project — not a contribution to the stability of a whole allied continent and global markets.
