President Donald Trump appeared on Hannity at the end this week and offered a blunt, critical assessment of Zelensky’s decision-making in the Russia-Ukraine war.
He strongly suggested that Ukrainian President Zelensky’s policies have only prolonged the war. This includes the unspoken truth that prior Biden administration policies have only served to continue the killing, as billions in arms were pumped to Ukraine’s military, despite there long being acknowledgement that the Russian military machine was superior, and Russian forces have continued making significant gains.
“Look, Zelensky was fighting a much bigger entity, much bigger, much more powerful. He shouldn’t have done that because we could have made a deal and it would have been a deal that would have been — it would have been a nothing deal,” Trump told Sean Hannity on Thursday. Trump also at one point said Zelensky is “no angel”.
“We started pouring equipment… and they (Ukraine) had the bravery to use the equipment, but in the end, it’s a war that has to be settled,” Trump added.
But he also admitted: “Putin shouldn’t have done it (launching the full-scale invasion)… and it has to stop.”
Crucially during the course of the interview Trump indicated that he would have taken that deal. “I could have made that deal so easily. And Zelensky decided that I want to fight,” he said.
Trump further pointed out that his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden did a “horrible job” by allowing the war to start in the first place. Trump has long maintained that had he been in office after 2020 the Russia-Ukraine war would have never started, as Putin would not have invaded.
Russian President Putin himself dropped a bomb on Friday, with the following (as CNN puts it):
Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Friday that “the crisis in Ukraine” might have been prevented if Donald Trump was in power at the time, saying he was ready to talk with the new US president about the conflict.
Trump has long claimed that the war in Ukraine would not have happened under his watch, but Friday marked the first time Putin suggested the same thing – while also repeating Trump’s false claim that the 2020 US election was “stolen.”
Here’s what Putin said in the televised comments: “I can’t help but agree with (Trump) that if his victory had not been stolen in 2020, then maybe there would not have been the crisis in Ukraine that arose in 2022.”
Trump this past week said, “Zelensky — I will say this, he wants to settle now. He’s had enough. He shouldn’t have allowed this to happen, either.”
🚨Trump just bodied Zelensky😭
“He’s no angel. He shouldn’t have allowed this war to happen… When he was talking so brave… we gave them billions of dollars.” pic.twitter.com/tGCdymPVhF
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) January 24, 2025
The US President also told Hannity that “It’s gotta end. These are human beings that are being slaughtered” on the battlefield. Trump soon after the inauguration said he plans to meet with Putin “soon”.
The US, Russian, and Ukrainian sides are jockeying for diplomatic positions based on building leverage, based on diplomatic rhetoric or on the battlefield. But the big determinant reality remains the battlefield, in the Donbass, where Russian forces are clearly on top and advancing by the day.
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