Donald Trump just described Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “no angel” when it comes to the Ukraine war.
Speaking to Fox News in his first sit-down interview since returning to the White House, Trump appeared to blame the last three years of bloodshed in Ukraine on the country’s wartime president – even though Vladimir Putin is the one who invaded.
The Russian president claimed his troops were trying to root out neo-Nazism in the Ukrainian government and were forced into fighting by Kyiv’s desire to join Nato.
Over in the West, though, Putin’s “special military operation” has widely been written off as a land grab.
But, while saying Zelenskyy is ready to negotiate and end the war, Trump appeared to blame him for Russia’s aggression.
He claimed: ”[Zelenskyy] shouldn’t have allowed this to happen either. You know, he’s no angel, he shouldn’t have allowed this war to happen.”
Trump continued: “Zelenskyy 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.
“I could have made that deal so easily, and Zelenskyy decided that ‘I want a fight.’”
Trump did not just blame Zelenskyy in this interview, though.
Despite once calling the 2022 invasion “savvy” and “genius”, Trump said: “Putin shouldn’t have done it and it has to stop.”
The US president continued: “These are human beings that are just being slaughtered on this battlefield by the millions. They’ve already died, and the cities – the cities are like demolition sites.”
He also repeated his previous criticism of his predecessor Joe Biden, saying he should not have “allowed” the war to start and alleging the last administration’s energy policies made Russia richer.
Trump’s words come after he slammed the Russian president in a post on Truth Social, urging him to pull out of Ukraine or face tariffs.
He wrote: “Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries.”
Before his official return to the presidency, Trump pledged to end the war during his first 24 hours in office.
Although that time period has now passed, Washington has made it clear he is keen to speak to Putin “very quickly”.
The Kremlin has responded, saying, “Putin is ready, we are waiting for signals, everyone is ready [for their meeting],” although details are yet to be confirmed.
