Former President Donald Trump said on March 10 that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “truly is a crime against humanity” that “never would have happened” if he were still in office.
“I’m looking at these scenes on television of things that are happening, and nobody can believe them,” Trump told host Sean Hannity. “So something has to happen, Sean. This can’t continue. This ... truly is a crime against humanity. This is something that has to end, and it has to end soon.
“The problem with Putin, he’s got a very big ego, and if he ends now in most forms, if he ends now, it’s going to look like a big loss for him. Even if he takes a little extra territory. I'll tell you, Sean, it’s a little hard for Ukraine also, because they are actually doing well, and they would like to see if they could have our country back, but also, what are they getting? They are getting all of these cities, look like they’re almost completely bombed to the ground,” Trump continued.
Trump also maintained that there was “no chance that this would ever happen” if he were still president, referring to the invasion of Ukraine, adding that during his time in office he had had a “very strong conversation with president Putin and he understood,” before declining to go into details about the alleged conversation.
He also took aim at the Biden administration’s “horrible” and “incompetent” withdrawal from Afghanistan as well as sky-high inflation and the ongoing migrant crisis in the United States.
“The way that they got out of Afghanistan looked like a complete surrender, and I'll tell you that Putin was watching ... bad things started to happen and they [Putin and other world leaders including Kim Jong-un] no longer respect our country, and that’s how this [Russia’s invasion of Ukraine] came about.
Trump said he has been watching the “horrible” things taking place in Ukraine, and said they “never should have happened” and it’s a “sad situation” adding that president Putin “doesn’t seem to be the same Putin that I was dealing with” but that “he wouldn’t have changed if I was dealing with him.”
The former U.S. president also touted the “tremendous amounts of equipment” his administration provided to Ukraine “so that they could defend themselves.”
When asked by Hannity if his administration would offer to provide fighter jets to Ukraine from Poland, Trump responded that he would have done things “a lot different” than the Biden administration has.
Poland’s government has called on NATO allies to send jets to U.S. bases which can then be transferred to Ukraine after Ukrainian officials stated that receiving them would help tremendously against the Russian invasion, which began on Feb. 24.
“The intelligence community has assessed the transfer of MiG-29s to Ukraine may be mistaken as escalatory, and could result in significant Russian reaction that might increase the prospects of a military escalation with NATO,“ Kirby said, adding that based on the assessment, the military assesses the transfer as ”high-risk” and will not carry it out.
Trump’s comments come shortly after the International Criminal Court said it has launched an investigation into allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide committed in Ukraine.
