North Carolina: Former US President Donald Trump described Ukraine in bleak terms on Wednesday, referring to its people as “dead” and the country itself as “demolished" and raising questions on the country's capability of defending itself against Russia's invasion. Trump, who said he would "probably talk" with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, criticised the latter for making "nasty aspersions" towards him.
In his remarks at North Carolina, Trump argued that Ukraine should have made concessions to Russian President Vladimir Putin in the months before Russia's February 2022 attack, declaring that even “the worst deal would've been better than what we have now." The Republican presidential nominee also said Russia would have never invaded if he was the president. "They just don't know what to do because Ukraine is gone. It's not Ukraine anymore," he added.
"Let's say we did settle and a deal would have been made with Russia years ago, three years ago, before it all began. And we could have made a deal easily, could have made it easily, if we had a president who was intelligent, we, could have made a deal easily. But what do you have left now? Three years of horrible fighting. The country is absolutely obliterated. Millions and millions of people, including all of these great soldiers, they're dead. Those gorgeous buildings with golden towers are demolished and lying broken on their side," he said.
Trump accuses Biden, Harris of 'egging on' conflict
Trump lashed out at President Joe Biden and Vice Kamala Harris for "egging on" the conflict by "feeding Zelenskyy money and munitions like no country has ever seen before." He said Biden and Harris "caused this situation by the stupidity of what they said, by every move they make" while repeating his earlier statement that Zelenskyy was the "greatest salesman on earth".
The former President has long been critical of US aid to Ukraine and refused to say whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war during a debate with Harris earlier this month. On Tuesday, Trump touted the prowess of Russia and its predecessor Soviet Union, saying that wars are “what they do.” Trump did not speak much of Putin, saying, "he's no angel."
"Any deal, even the worst deal would have been better than what we have right now. If they made a bad deal, it would have been much better. They would have given up a little bit and everybody would be living and every building would be built and every tower would be aging for another 2000 years," Trump said, questioning whether the country has any bargaining chips left to negotiate an end to the war.
Trump slams Zelenskyy for 'nasty' remarks
The Republican former president began his denunciation of Ukraine by alluding to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's recent criticism of Trump and running mate JD Vance. Zelenskyy, who is in the US, previously described Vance as "too radical" for proposing that Ukraine surrender territories under Russian control and that Trump “doesn't really know how to stop the war even if he might think he knows how.”
"It's something we have to have a quick discussion about because the president of Ukraine is in our country and he's making little nasty aspersions toward your favourite president, me. But take a look at the war happening right now in Ukraine. It would have never happened if I were president to start off with," Trump said on Wednesday.
Zelenskyy is pitching the White House on what he calls a victory plan for the war, expected to include an ask to use long-range Western weapons to strike Russian targets. A deal with Russia would almost certainly be unfavourable for Ukraine, which has lost a fifth of its territory and tens of thousands of lives in the conflict.
Will Trump meet Zelenskyy?
Meanwhile, sources familiar with the former president's schedule told Reuters that Trump does not plan to meet Zelenskyy during the Ukrainian president's trip to the United States despite indicating last week that he would be likely to meet him. While Trump's plans can always change, a meeting is at this point extremely unlikely, said the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss private matters.
The chances of a meeting went down substantially after Zelenskyy traveled to a munitions factory in Pennsylvania on Sunday alongside the state's Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, the sources said. The Trump campaign was upset at the move, those sources said, which they saw as a campaign stop. Shapiro is a close ally of Harris, and Pennsylvania is one of the most politically competitive states in the nation.
Mike Johnson, the Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives demanded that Zelenskyy "immediately fire" his ambassador to the United States on Wednesday for helping to organise the trip. "The tour was clearly a partisan campaign event designed to help Democrats and is clearly election interference," he said.
(with inputs from agencies)
