- Former President Trump stated that Putin is “destroying” Russia by not seeking a peace deal in Ukraine and hinted at future talks with the Russian leader.
- Trump pledged to end the Ukraine war quickly, but experts warn that Putin has no incentive to stop the fighting and achieving a swift peace will be challenging.
- Macron cautioned that the war will not end quickly and emphasized the importance of maintaining Ukraine’s strength in any potential peace talks.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin is “destroying” Russia by refusing to make a deal to end the Ukraine war, adding that he could speak to Putin soon, without stating a timeframe. “He should make a deal. I think he’s destroying Russia by not making a deal,” Trump told reporters on January 20 upon his arrival at the White House following his inauguration.
“I think Russia’s going to be in big trouble.”
“Most people thought that war would have been over in one week,” Trump said in what appears to be his most critical public remarks about Putin’s war.
“I think he’d be very well off to end that war.”
Russia has burned through hundreds of billions of dollars on the war, suffered an estimated 700,000 casualties, and frightened its neighbors, while also sacrificing the lucrative European gas market and access to Western financial markets as the ruble has tumbled in value. The Kremlin is spending about 40 percent of its budget on the military and struggling to contain inflation even with interest rates above 20 percent. In return, it has seized territory in Ukraine that lays in waste. Trump said he would at some point speak with Putin — for whom he has often expressed admiration — without specifying a time. Western leaders with the exception of right-wing figures like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a Trump ally, have shunned meetings and –in most cases — calls with Putin in an attempt to isolate him politically. “I got along with [Putin] great. I would hope he wants to make a deal,” Trump said about a possible meeting. The U.S. president also said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had told him he wanted a peace agreement to end the war. Russian is gaining territory in eastern Ukraine at the fastest clip since the start of the war amid Ukraine’s manpower shortage. Alexseev said Trump may seek to change Putin’s calculus on Ukraine by countering the Kremlin’s interests in other regions like the Arctic, Middle East, and Africa or targeting his allies like Iran and North Korea. “What we may see from Trump is a broadening of the bargaining game, taking it to other areas to send more and more messages to Putin,” he said.
Trump’s latest remarks came hours after French President Emmanuel Macron cautioned that the war will not end “tomorrow or the day after” and that it was crucial to leave Kyiv in a position of strength ahead of any potential peace talk.