Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has expressed admiration for the Russian military’s fighting skills and vowed to end the Ukraine conflict before the end of the year if elected.
Trump addressed the Russia-Ukraine conflict as part of an hour-long interview posted on Monday with former US Navy SEAL and CIA contractor Shawn Ryan, advertised as “unfiltered stories of heroic events and current world issues.”
“Russia’s a great winter fighter,” Trump told Ryan. “They beat Germany and they beat Napoleon. They’re not easy to beat. And they are a massive military, and Ukraine isn’t. But Ukraine has us giving them a lot of money.”
The US and its allies have channeled more than $400 billion in aid to Kiev since the conflict began in 2022, including over $120 billion in direct military aid, according to estimates from the Kiel Institute, a German think tank tracking the contributions.
Without going into details, Trump objected to the US accounting for the lion’s share of the military aid, arguing that the European members of NATO needed to “equalize” their contribution.
“That war is much more devastating than people understand,” Trump said in the interview. He also promised to have it “settled” as president-elect and not wait for the January inauguration.
Trump has repeatedly argued that the conflict would not have broken out had he stayed in the White House, instead of being replaced by Joe Biden in 2021. He has also promised to end the fighting within 24 hours.
This is not the first time Trump has praised the Russian “war machine.” He first brought it up during a Fox News town hall in February, then again in July, recounting a phone call with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky.
Asked by Ryan what he would spend the $175 billion that Congress has appropriated for Ukraine aid, Trump pointed out that the US has over $30 trillion in national debt.
The former president also lamented the fact that the Pentagon has managed to empty the stockpile he had worked so hard to replenish during his time in office.
“These guys gave it all to Ukraine,” Trump told Ryan. “Now we have no ammunition again.”