Ending the war in 24 hours, good relations with Putin, nuclear strike: what Trump said about Ukraine before his inauguration
Kyiv • UNN
Donald Trump announced his intention to quickly end the war in Ukraine through talks with Putin and Zelensky. Advisers to the president-elect acknowledged that a settlement could take months.
Today, January 20, US President-elect Donald Trump will officially take office. UNN collected Trump's statements about Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
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During the election campaign, Donald Trump often stated that he had good relations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
For example, in September, while still a candidate for the post, Trump said at a meeting with Zelenskyy that if he became president of the United States, his team would work with Ukraine and Russia to end the war as soon as possible, because the war must end someday.
"This has to end sometime. Ukraine has gone through hell. No one has ever seen anything like this. It's a terrible situation," Trump said.
He noted that he has a good relationship with Zelenskyy, recalling how Zelenskyy acted when he tried to impeach Trump for allegedly pressuring Ukraine over the issue of military aid.
"I also have a very good relationship, as you know, with President Putin. And I think that if we win, I think we'll resolve this very quickly," Trump added.
To this remark, Zelensky said that he hoped things would be better with "Ukraine," to which Trump replied: "It takes two to tango, we're going to have a good meeting today. And I think that the fact that we are even together today is a very good sign.
At the same meeting, Trump repeated his words that if he wins the election before he takes office on January 20, his team "will be able to come up with something .
The day before his meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump accused the Ukrainian leader of taking billions of dollars from the United States while refusing to "make a deal" to stop Russia's full-scale invasion.
Any deal, the worst deal, would be better than what we have now. If they had made a bad deal, it would have been much better. They would have conceded a little bit, and everybody would be alive, and every building would have been built, and every tower would have aged for another 2000 years
Already in December, after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris and against the backdrop of the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, Trump announced Ukraine's desire to conclude an agreement to end the war and called for an immediate ceasefire and the start of negotiations.
"Assad is gone. He fled his country. His patron, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was no longer interested in protecting him. There was no reason for Russia to be there at all. They lost all interest in Syria because of Ukraine, where about 600,000 Russian soldiers are wounded or dead in a war that should never have started and could go on forever," Trump said.
He noted that Russia and Iran are in a weakened state: Russia because of the war in Ukraine and the poor economy, and Iran because of Israel and its military success.
Likewise, Zelenskyy and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the madness. They have senselessly lost 400,000 soldiers and many more civilians. There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin. Too many lives have been needlessly lost, too many families have been destroyed, and if this continues, it could turn into something much bigger and much worse. I know Vladimir well. This is his time to act. China can help. The world is waiting
Before that, Trump accused former US President Joe Biden of being responsible for Russia's war against Ukraine.
"Russia has been saying for many years, even before Putin, that NATO cannot intervene in Ukraine. It was like it was carved in stone. And Biden said: no, they should be able to join NATO. Then Russia would have someone right on their doorstep. I can understand their feelings about this... When I heard Biden negotiating, I said: you will have a war. And it turned out to be a very bad war, it can escalate and become much worse than it is now," Biden said.
Trump also said last November that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if he were president, because he would have launched a nuclear strike against Moscow.
"I said: "Vladimir, if you go to Ukraine, I will hit you so hard you won't even believe it. I will hit you right in the center of this fucking Moscow. You'll get a big hit, and I'll knock those domes right off your head. Because you know, he lives under domes," Trump said.
Trump has repeatedly stated that he could end the war in 24 hours, including direct threats to Putin to bring oil prices down to $40 and to Volodymyr Zelenskyy to cut off military aid.
"Literally the same night as my victory is announced, I will call Putin and Zelenskiy. We will make a deal within 24 hours," Trump said.
However, in January, advisors to US President-elect Donald Trump admittedthat it would take months or even longer to resolve the war in Ukraine.
