Former president Donald Trump suggested he'd threaten to expand U.S. support for Ukraine if Russian president Vladimir Putin refused to accept negotiations to quickly end the ongoing fighting between Russia and Ukraine.
Mr. Trump, who is running to retake the White House in 2024, has repeatedly suggested he could end the fighting between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours as president. In an appearance on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures” show, host Maria Bartiromo asked the Republican presidential frontrunner how he would compel both sides to the negotiating table and rapidly conclude such a peace deal. Mr. Trump replied that “I know Zelenskyy very well, and I know Putin very well, even better. And I had a good relationship, very good with both of them.”
“I would tell Zelenskyy, ‘No more. You’ve got to make a deal,’” Mr. Trump continued. “I would tell Putin: ‘If you don’t make a deal, we’re going to give him a lot. We’re going to give them more than they ever got if we have to.’ I will have the deal done in one day. One day.”
DeSantis PAC, Trump Camp Trade Barbs on Ukraine
Thus far, the U.S. has allocated tens of billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, including providing weapons and training to Ukrainian forces. The United States has sent anti-tank and anti-aircraft launchers, artillery, Patriot missile defense systems, tanks, and other armored fighting vehicles. The United States has also approved transfers of F-16 fighter jets and, more recently, began sending controversial cluster munitions to the Ukrainian side.Mr. Trump is one of a few 2024 presidential candidates who have expressed skepticism of U.S. support for Ukraine and has previously described the ongoing conflict as a “proxy battle” that carries a risk of “global war.”
Within hours of Mr. Trump sharing his remarks on “Sunday Morning Futures,” a political action committee (PAC) affiliated with Republican Florida governor Ron DeSantis, Never Back Down, had cast the comments as an indication that the former president will continue to send weapons and money to the Ukrainian side.
“Trump says he will threaten Russia by telling Putin that America will give Ukraine’s ‘honorable’ President Zelenskyy ‘a lot’ of weapons and money. Trump says ‘we’re going to give them more than they ever got’ from Biden ‘if we have to,’” the DeSantis-linked organization wrote in a tweet on Sunday afternoon.
Trump War Room, a Twitter account associated with Mr. Trump’s 2024 campaign pushed back, arguing that Never Back Down mischaracterized Mr. Trump’s remarks.
“Only dumb idiots on flailing campaigns would be so desperate to make up words that weren’t even spoken,” Trump War Room wrote in a tweet. “Would expect nothing less from Team DeSanctus consisting of people who tried to be Ukrainian arms dealers.”
Mr. DeSantis, who is currently ranked second in Republican presidential primary polling, has also expressed skepticism of continued U.S. support for Ukraine. In March, Mr. DeSantis said “becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not” in the vital interests of the United States. Later on in March, Mr. DeSantis condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and described Mr. Putin as a war criminal but maintained that he did not want the U.S. to escalate its support for Ukraine.
“I just don’t think that’s a sufficient interest for us to escalate more involvement,” Mr. DeSantis said. “I would not want to see American troops involved there. But the idea that I think somehow Russia was justified [in invading]—that’s nonsense.”
