Expert: Trump's statement at Ukraine debate gives him room to maneuver

In light of the recent debate, former US President and Republican candidate for the upcoming election Donald Trump said that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin's plans to end the war are unacceptable to him. Such a statement gives Trump room to maneuver and will show the world that his position is not so pro-Russian. This opinion was expressed by the founder of the Institute of American Studies Vladyslav Faraponov in a comment to a journalist of UNN.

It was extremely important in this debate to hear Donald Trump say that Putin's plans to end the war are unacceptable to him. For us, this means that they (the Republican Party - ed.) are considering different options for ending the war, not the one Putin is proposing. For Trump himself, such a statement will create room for "maneuver" and show the world that his position is not so pro-Russian

According to him, Trump has his own vision of the war, and he wants to come out of this story as a winner. He pointed out that this is only the first debate of this presidential cycle, so it is very good that the topic of Ukraine was raised there.

"At such debates, they discuss a number of domestic policy issues, because this is much more interesting to Americans than foreign policy in general. The topic of Ukraine was the first of the entire international bloc, so for the first debate, this is a sufficient result," he added.

Faraponov explained that the Ukrainian issue is quite manipulative, so politicians often use it for their own purposes.

"Unfortunately, for us, the Biden administration is to some extent hostage to this situation, because they decide how much aid to give, and the Trump team is in opposition. If we are talking about what the Trump team is doing, it is much easier to criticize, and therefore they are not responsible for this criticism," he added.

The expert noted that when the Republicans had a majority in the lower house of Congress, there was no aid for almost six months.

Faraponov also emphasized that Joe Biden's "replacement" is a very unlikely story.

"I think if Biden can hold out until the fall, no one will replace him," he added.

Recall

Trump statedthat Putin would not have attacked Ukraine if he were president and blamed Joe Biden for the poor withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, which prompted Putin to aggression. At the same time, Trump emphasized that Putin's current conditions for ending the war are unacceptable.  Biden, for his part, called Putin a war criminal and criticized Trump for his comments on NATO.