"He is fighting a much bigger country": Trump says Zelenskyy is "no angel" and speaks out on deal with Russia. Video
US President Donald Trump has said that his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to completely stop the war with the aggressor country of Russia. The new American leader argues that Ukraine should not have defended itself against a full-scale invasion, but should have immediately "made a deal" because it is now facing a "much larger and more powerful country." At the same time, he condemned Russia's attack.
Trump made this statement in an interview with the American TV channel Fox News. In particular, he confirmed that the President of Ukraine is ready to end the war, but said that "Zelenskyy is no angel."
"Zelenskyy, I will say this, wants to stop everything. He has had enough. He also should not have allowed the war to happen. You know, he is not an angel either, but he should not have allowed this war. First of all, he is fighting a much bigger country. And you know, that's brave, and now two things have happened. Ukrainians are brave, but we gave them billions of dollars," Trump said.
Trump's interview. Image by Fox News
He added that the United States "spent $200 billion more than Europe" and once again blamed his predecessor, Joe Biden, for this:
"Why did we spend more? You know why. President Biden never asked Europe to spend more."
Trump's interview. Fox News footage
When host Sean Hannity said that the war in Ukraine has effectively become a proxy war between the United States and Russia, Trump repeated that "Zelenskyy is fighting a much bigger country, a much more powerful country."
Trump's interview. Image by Fox News
Source: Fox News
"He didn't have to do that because we could have made a deal and it would have been a deal. I could have made that deal so easily. And Zelenskyy decided that 'I want to fight'. You know, Russia has 30,000 army tanks, and Zelenskyy had almost none. You don't fight them now. Then they started pouring in equipment, transferring, transferring, transferring. And they had the courage to use this equipment, but in the end, this war has to be stopped."
Map of hostilities in Ukraine
Source: ISW
The 47th president also criticized Biden for "allowing" Russia to start the war, saying his predecessor's energy policy made Putin richer.
"Putin shouldn't have done that either. I mean, I don't blame only that Putin shouldn't have done it. He shouldn't have done it, and it has to stop," Trump said.
As a reminder, Zelenskyy recently said that the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia after the start of the full-scale invasion were in fact just an ultimatum from Moscow. The aggressor country, in particular, demanded the replacement of the president with pro-Russian Viktor Medvedchuk, the granting of Russian as the state language, and a large reduction in the Ukrainian army.
As reported by OBOZ.UA, on January 23, Trump, speaking to journalists, said that Zelenskyy had confirmed his readiness for a peace agreement to end the war with Russia. The US President also said that Russia "lost more soldiers" and noted that China has a significant influence on the aggressor country.
Before that, Trump called on Russia to immediately end the war against Ukraine and conclude a peace agreement, threatening sanctions and duties on all Russian exports. He also called the war in Ukraine a tragedy unparalleled since World War II.
The Kremlin, commenting on Trump's statement, declared its "readiness" for an "equal and respectful dialogue" with the United States, which "took place" during the Republican's first term. At the same time, Moscow is "waiting for signals that have not yet been received."
According to The Wall Street Journal, the Kremlin considers Trump's threats to be empty, and dictator Putin's entourage is confident that Moscow can withstand another year of war.
Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
Donald Trump
Volodymyr Zelensky
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