Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed the suggestion that Donald Trump could have stopped Russia from invading his country in an interview with Newsmax.
Speaking on Tuesday with anchor Rob Schmitt, the Ukrainian leader said he “cannot predict” what would have happened if Mr Trump was still US president.
Schmitt proposed: “There are many Americans that believe that if somebody like Donald Trump was still in the White House that this invasion would not have happened. What is your position?”
“I am sorry if I’ll be saying something that you don’t like but for us as the country in war, it doesn’t matter whether it’s Democrats or Republicans,” Mr Zelensky replied.” It’s the people of the United States that support us”.
Mr Zelensky continued by saying that “anybody could become the [US] president”, including those who did not like Ukraine and those who were empathetic towards Vladimir Putin, the Russian president.
“Some might like Ukraine more, some less. Some might have respect for Putin, and some might not ...but the values our country is fighting for are definitely the ones shared by the US,” Mr Zelensky said.
On the day Ukraine was invaded by Russia Mr Trump claimed: “If I were in Office, this deadly Ukraine situation would never have happened!” That came hours after he championed Russia’s build-up of forces on Ukraine’s borders as a “genius” and “savvy”.
Mr Trump was also impeached by the US House in 2019 amid allegations he wrongfully pressured Ukraine to provide political help for his re-election after holding-back military aid to Kyiv.
On Tuesday, Mr Zelensky praised the Biden administration’s response to Russia’s war and said “the most important is the assistance from the people of the United States.”
“They are paying the taxes, and the money being allocated to support Ukraine comes from the taxes, and it’s all of that humanitarian, financial, military support to Ukraine,” he said. “So I am grateful to the current president of the United States as well as to those in the political parties that support us.”
That support has included a $40bn package of military, economic and humanitarian assistance as well as well as long-range missile systems, as Mr Biden announced on Wednesday.
