The Republican candidate has claimed during his campaign that he could end the war within a day if he's re-elected president.
ADVERTISEMENTUS President Joe Biden is to blame for Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Donald Trump said as he spoke to tech billionaire Elon Musk in an interview on X on Monday.
In a scathing attack on the current president, Trump said Moscow would never have invaded had Biden not been in office.
Trump argued that his "strong" relationship with Putin could have prevented the conflict, saying that he had even told Putin not to take action.
"I got along with (Russia's President Vladimir) Putin very well, and he respected me," Trump told Musk. "We would talk about Ukraine. It was the apple of his eye. But I told him, don't do it."
"You can't do it, Vladimir. He said 'no way', and I said 'way'," Trump said.
“Russia defeated Germany with us, and they defeated Napoleon. You know, they’ve been around a long time."
"They’re a big fighting force, and it’s very unfair … We’re in a very bad position. And I’m not going to blame, exclusively, but I can tell you, I could have stopped that," he claimed.
The former US president also spoke about aid to Ukraine, appearing to suggest that the EU should match its spending to the US.
"I say, 'why aren't you going to equalise?' Why aren't they paying what we're paying?" Trump told Musk. "Why is the United States paying disproportionately more to defend Europe than Europe? That doesn't make sense. That's unfair, and that is an appropriate thing to address."
He also criticised the EU's trade rules, saying, "They take great advantage of the United States in trade."
"They’re not as tough as China, but they’re bad," he added.
'He was very honourable to me'
Trump then went on to praise Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling him "honourable" in the way he handled the phone call that resulted in Trump's first impeachment in 2019.
"I mean, honestly, look, there's nobody that feels worse about the Ukraine situation than I do, because I know it would have never happened," Trump said, "I know Zelenskyy. He was very honourable to me, because when they went with the Russia hoax and they said I had a phone call with him. He said it was a perfect phone call."
Trump's comments on Ukraine follow leaked text messages between his vice-presidential pick, JD Vance, and far-right conspiracy theorist, Charles Johnson, in which Vance disparaged US support for Ukraine.
According to the Washington Post, Vance told Johnson, "Dude, I won't even take calls from Ukraine".
ADVERTISEMENTThe text conversations are dated from October 2023 and coincided with the congressional Republicans' attempt to obstruct an aid package for Ukraine.