On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the invasion of Ukraine 2022 that resulted in a full -fledged war, may not have happened if Donald Trump had been president of the United States at that time.
President Trump has sometimes said the war wouldn’t have hurt if he had been in the workplace in 2022, adding a Wednesday article on Truth Social.
“I can only agree with him that if he had been president, if his victory had not been stolen in 2020, then there has not been the crisis in Ukraine that arose in 2022,” Putin said.
Newsweek reached out to the White House and the Kremlin via email on Friday for comment.
Former President Joe Biden, best friend of the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, in his opposite fight to Putin’s invasion, which began almost 3 years ago.
During his presidential crusade in 2024, Trump criticized the billions of dollars Biden’s management spent in Ukraine and said that if he were at the negotiating table with Putin and Zelensky, the war between two nations would end “within 24 hours. “
Although there have been accusations of long data of a close quote between Trump and Putin, the US president requested Putin on Wednesday to conclude an agreement to finish the war with Ukraine or face more sanctions from the United States and his allies.
Trump also said he would like to talk to Putin, who would soon talk about ending the war, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian leader is “ready” to speak on the phone with Trump and wait for a reaction from Washington, D. C.
Trump has repeatedly said the 2022 invasion of Ukraine would not have happened had he been in office.
According to independent Russian media, Putin agreed on Friday with Trump while talking about Rossiya TV. He also discussed the issue of verbal exchange with Trump.
“Russia has never refused contact with the U.S. administration. It wasn’t our fault that the previous administration refused those contacts. I’ve always had professional, yet pragmatic, and, I would say, trusting relations with the current U.S. president,” Putin said to Zarubin, per Meduza.
President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social Network Platform on Wednesday: “Come in this war, which would never have begun if he were president, we can do it in the simplest way or in the difficult way, and the way in which what simpler is better.
Republicans against Trump, a social media account critical of the president, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) about Putin’s comments on Friday: “It’s apparent through Putin to remind Trump that they’re on the same team. “
It is not known when Trump and Putin can speak. While so much, Zelensky said on Tuesday that his government is actively based on the organization of an assembly with the US president.
Update 1/14/25 1:00 PM ET: This story has been updated to come with more information.
Jon Jackson is a News Editor at Newsweek based in New York. His focus is on reporting on the Ukraine and Russia war. Jon previously worked at The Week, the River Journal, Den of Geek and Maxim. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with honors in journalism and mass communication from New York University. Languages: English.