Donald Trump sidestepped a direct question at Tuesday evening’s presidential debate on whether he wanted Ukraine to win in its war against Russia, underlining concerns that a second Trump administration could suspend military support for Kyiv.
Asked directly by ABC’s David Muir on whether or not he wants Ukraine to win the war, he did not answer the question and said simply: “I want the war to stop.” He focused on the war’s human toll by saying that people were being killed “by the millions,” a number that hasn’t been confirmed by any country or international organisation.
He went on to say that if elected he would negotiate a deal even before becoming president and suggested the United States was “playing with World War three.”
Kamala Harris quickly pounced on his remarks, saying that if Trump had been president during the invasion, then “Putin would be sitting in Kyiv with his eyes on the rest of Europe”, and that in such a scenario the Russian president would move on to Poland.
“Why don’t you tell the 800,000 Polish Americans right here in Pennsylvania how quickly you would give up for the sake of favour and what you think is a friendship with what is known to be a dictator who would eat you for lunch.”
Trump’s remarks will renew concerns in Kyiv that he will cut off military and economic aid toward the country if he is reelected at a crucial moment in the war, when Kyiv is desperate for troops, financial support and for military hardware, much of it supplied by the United States and its Nato allies.
Trump advisers had already suggested that they’re working on a peace deal that Ukraine would be compelled to accept before Trump took power next January if he wins in the November elections. He confirmed that on Tuesday evening, calling Russia’s invasion a “war that’s dying to be settled. I will get it settled before I even become president.”
Since the beginning of the invasion, Trump has been skeptical of providing military arms to Ukraine, inspiring his party to block crucial military funding to the country for months earlier this year.
Polling has shown that a majority of voters from both parties support Ukraine in the war, but Trump’s lack of support for Kyiv had influenced many in his party to pull back on their support for Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Harris argued that Trump’s peace plan was simply a decision to capitulate to Moscow. “I believe the reason that Donald Trump says this war would be over within 24 hours is because he would just give it up,” she said. “And that’s not who we are as Americans.”
