Former US President Donald Trump has claimed that President Joe Biden’s Ukraine policy – now fully adopted by his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris – is dragging the country into a third world war. He reiterated that he would settle the conflict “in 24 hours” if reelected this November, even before being sworn in.
During a debate with Harris on Tuesday, Trump said the conflict between Russia and Ukraine would never have happened had he still been in the White House in 2022. When asked if he wants Kiev to win, the Republican replied that he wants “the war to stop.”
“I want the war to stop. I want to save lives that are being wasted… People are being killed by the millions… It’s so much worse than the numbers you’re getting, which are fake,” he claimed, without clarifying the source of the estimates.
The moderator pressed for a direct answer, inquiring whether Trump believes “it’s in the US’ best interest for Ukraine to win this war.”
“I think it’s in the US’ best interest to get this war finished and just get it done. We need to negotiate a deal because we have to stop all these human lives from being destroyed,” Trump said.
The former president then claimed that he had a “good relationship” with Russian President Vladimir Putin and that everything has “gone to hell” since he left office. “When I saw Putin building up soldiers on Ukraine’s border, I thought: ‘Oh, he must be negotiating; it must be a strong point of negotiation,’” Trump stated.
“Well, it wasn’t, because Biden had no idea how to talk to him. He had no idea how to stop it… And it is only getting worse; it could lead to World War III,” he added. “Don’t kid yourself... We are playing with WWIII, and we have a president that… Where is our president?”
“They threw him out of the campaign like a dog... We have a president that doesn’t even know he’s alive.”
“I will get it settled before I even become president,” Trump promised. “If I win, when I’m president-elect… I’ll get them together.”
Harris countered by claiming that the only reason Trump says “this war would be over within 24 hours” is that he would simply give it up. “And that’s not who we are as Americans,” she added.
The vice president went on to tout her role in consolidating Western support for Ukraine, claiming that because of “the work that I and others did,” along with the provision of “air defense, ammunition, artillery, javelins, and Abrams tanks,” Ukraine remains an “independent and free” country.