Former US president Joe Biden has accused his successor, Donald Trump, of pursuing “modern-day appeasement” by pressuring Ukraine to give up territory to Russia. In an interview with the BBC aired on 7 May 2025, Biden warned that such an approach will not satisfy Russian President Vladimir Putin, who, Biden said, views Ukraine as part of “mother Russia.”

As cited by Reuters, Biden noted:

“Anybody who thinks he’s going to stop is just foolish,” he said, adding, “I just don’t understand how people think that if we allow a dictator, a thug, to decide he’s going to take significant portions of land that aren’t his, that that’s going to satisfy him.”

Biden also voiced concern about the message such policies send to US allies.

“Europe is going to lose confidence in the certainty of America and the leadership of America,” he said, pointing to growing doubts among European leaders: “Can I rely on the United States? Are they going to be there?”

Referring to a February 2025 White House meeting between Trump, his top aides, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Biden said,

“I found it sort of beneath America in the way that took place.”