US President Donald Trump has voiced skepticism over Ukraine’s ability to win the ongoing war with Russia without taking direct offensive action against Russian territory. Despite his previous diplomatic efforts to broker peace between the two countries, Trump’s comments this week reflect his growing frustration with the current situation.
In recent diplomatic moves, Trump held separate meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an attempt to facilitate peace talks. However, throughout these engagements, Trump has continued to criticize former President Joe Biden’s handling of the conflict.
On Thursday, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to share his views, directly blaming Biden for limiting Ukraine’s military options. He argued that Ukraine could not prevail by simply defending its own borders. “It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invader’s country,” Trump posted. “It’s like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense, but is not allowed to play offense. There is no chance of winning!”
Trump, who has frequently described Biden as “crooked” and “grossly incompetent,” accused the former president of preventing Ukraine from pursuing offensive action against Russian forces. He reiterated his long-standing claim that the war would not have occurred if he were still in office.
In a symbolic gesture, Trump shared an image of himself poking Putin in the chest, a moment that appeared to echo President Richard Nixon’s historic 1959 meeting with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, when Nixon famously poked Khrushchev during a tense exchange.
Trump’s comments come after a week of high-level diplomatic engagements, including a meeting with Putin in Alaska and a multilateral summit at the White House with Zelenskyy and several European Union leaders. While sources from the EU have suggested that Putin has agreed in principle to meet with Zelenskyy, there has been no official confirmation from the Kremlin on the meeting or a timeline.
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