On 16 December, during his first press conference after winning the presidential election, Donald Trump announced his team has made “a little progress” in attempts to stop the Russia-Ukraine war. The US President-elect, who assumes office on 20 January, did not provide further details, but stated that to end the war, his team will engage in talks with both Russian and Ukrainian leaders, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He also refused to disclose whether he had spoken with Putin after the election.
Politico reports that Trump called Russia’s war in Ukraine “carnage,” citing flattened cities and pictures of corpses.
“We’re trying to get the war stopped. That horrible, horrible war that is going on in Ukraine with Russia. We’ve got a little progress. It is a tough one, it is a nasty one,” Politico quoted Trump saying. He added:“People are being killed at levels that nobody’s ever seen. It’s very level fields, the only thing that stops a bullet is a body. And the number of soldiers that are being killed on both sides is astronomical.”
Trump decried Ukraine’s destroyed cities and suggested that Russia may have relatively spared Kyiv, claiming the Kremlin likely plans to use or occupy it in the future.
“They’ve done a lot of damage but relatively, compared to the other cities, it’s very little. But many of those other cities are gone, those beautiful towers, beautiful buildings that they had are now laying on their sides destroyed,” he said.
The President-elect’s suggestion ignores the fact that the Ukrainian capital only withstands relentless swarms of Russian drones and missile barrages thanks to its robust air defense, enjoying the status of the most protected Ukrainian city.
Intention to weaken Ukraine and more false claims
The President-elect announced plans to reverse the Biden administration’s decision allowing Ukraine to fire long-range missiles into Russia, Politico says. The Biden administration lifted restrictions on a longer-range variant of the ATACMS (US Army Tactical Missile System) just two weeks after the election.
“I don’t think they should have allowed missiles to be shot 200 miles into Russia,” Trump said, as quoted by Politico.
He falsely claimed this decision brought North Korea into the war, despite North Korean troops having already been training in Russia and preparing for combat before the move. Additionally, some Pyongyang troops had reportedly been present in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied city of Donetsk.
The potential revocation of long-range strike authorization could pose a significant setback for Ukraine.
Politico reports that Trump also made false claims about his previous presidency, stating “four years ago we had no wars. You did not have Russia going into Ukraine.” Moscow had actually annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and continued its proxy invasion of Donbas region during Trump’s presidency, though Trump was the first US president to send weaponry to Kyiv.
Related:
- Trump’s team seeks lasting Ukraine war resolution, national security advisor nominee says
- Trump cannot broker peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, Ukraine’s ex-foreign minister says
- Russia could stop war any moment but chooses not to, says Ukrainian ambassador
- West doesn’t get Russia’s goals, can hand Moscow victory in Ukraine, warns analyst
- Politico: NATO and European leaders to discuss peacekeeping troops to Ukraine
- “Don’t rescue Putin in Ukraine,” Steve Forbes warns Trump
- Ukraine dismisses Orbán’s unauthorized peace initiative with Russia, rejects claims on Christmas ceasefire
- Ukraine needs more weapons and strong security guarantees before peace talks with Russia, says Zelenskyy’s top aide
