“There would have been NO WAR if I were president,” claimed US president Donald Trump on Truth Social.
However, the newly elected US premier has been seen exchanging war of words with his Ukrainian counterpart Voldymyr Zelenskyy on various occasions this year.
Trump has made a number of controversial statements about Ukraine and Zelenskyy all while condoning US-Russia relationship talks since he came back into power in January.
Does Trump want to sabotage Ukraine? Here are 10 reasons why that might be the case…
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Trump’s impeachment in 2019
Trump’s humiliating impeachment traces its roots to a phone call with Zelenskyy in December 2019. It was on that very call that Trump was accused of seeking to influence the 2020 election by leaning on the Ukrainian leader to investigate current President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
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It’s all about the money
Trump has suggested that the United States has spent $300-$350bn on Ukraine aid – a claim that is often considered an exaggeration.
The Kiel Institute, a German-based think tank, which tracks support going into Ukraine has calculated that the United States spent $119.7bn (£94.3bn) on aid between January 2022 and December 2024.
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Personality clashes
Trump has said he is finding it “more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine” than Russia in attempts to broker peace between the two nations.
It comes exactly one week after an extraordinary White House exchange, in which Trump slammed Zelensky for being “disrespectful” to the US.
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For the love of Putin
Trump likes Putin, he has proved this time and again. This is perhaps because the two politicians have had a shared experience of the “scam” of allegations that Russia interfered in his 2016 election as president.
Meanwhile, Trump doesn’t see eye to eye with Zelenskyy who did not help him campaign against Joe Biden when he lost his second term run.
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Political gain
Trump wants to cement his future as a world leader and feels that having Russia on his side will help him stay in power for longer.
Trump has repeatedly said he believes it is in the national interest to “get along” with Moscow and cast doubt on the value of core parts of the post-World War II global security architecture, including NATO and the European Union.
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With love, from Russia
Trump’s efforts to sabotage Ukraine are also another way to reciprocate the allyship he received from Moscow. Putin’s regime has welcomed the overtures from Trump, according to media reports.
In statements reported by Russian state media agency TASS, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov praised Trump as a pragmatist who operates with “common sense.”
“We see that the collective West has begun to partially lose its unity,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow recently.
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Opportunistic politics
Trump’s intervention in the Russia and Ukraine tensions is also a way to emerge as the most powerful world leader. He constantly claims that he will get both sides to agree peacefully.
“Crooked Joe Biden got us into a real ‘mess’ with Russia (and EVERYTHING ELSE!), but I’m going to get us out,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“Millions of people are needlessly dead, never to be seen again…and there will be many more to follow if we don’t get the Cease Fire and Final Agreement with Russia completed and signed.
“There would have been NO WAR if I were President. It just, 100%, would not have happened.”
