WASHINGTON — President Trump on Monday blasted Moscow’s assault on Ukraine as “Biden’s war” — distancing himself from the conflict as Russian President Vladimir Putin drags out peace negotiations.
“The War between Russia and Ukraine is Biden’s war, not mine. I just got here, and for four years during my term, had no problem in preventing it from happening,” the president posted on Truth Social.
“President Putin, and everyone else, respected your President! I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS WAR, BUT AM WORKING DILIGENTLY TO GET THE DEATH AND DESTRUCTION TO STOP.”
It’s been nearly two months since Special Presidential Envoy Steve WItkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz held the first talks with Moscow in Riyadh as part of Trump’s initiative to end the war, as he frequently promised on the 2024 campaign trail.
There have since been multiple meetings with both Moscow and Kyiv, albeit separately, which have resulted in Ukraine agreeing to Trump’s proposed full cease-fire.
However, Russia continues to play hardball, most recently killing 32 civilians attending Palm Sunday services in Sumy, Ukraine.
Trump, who has repeatedly called for Russia to “stop the killing” in Ukraine, called the Sumy strikes “a horrible thing” while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday.
In his post on Monday, Trump blamed his predecessor and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for “allowing this travesty to begin,” claiming “there were so many ways of preventing it from ever starting,” without giving examples.
“But that is the past,” the president acknowledged. “Now we have to get it to STOP, AND FAST. SO SAD!”
His latest comments on the Ukraine war come after an earlier post raging against a 60 Minutes interview with Zelensky that aired Sunday, during which the Ukrainian leader expressed worry that the US is no longer “our strategic strong partner.”
“I don’t doubt that the people of America are with us, but in a long war, many details are forgotten. In Europe, everyone fears that the United States may drift away from Europe,” he said. “I think without the United States, we will suffer great losses, human and territorial so I wouldn’t like to consider that.”
“But this is our destiny, our land, our life, one way or another, we will end this war.”
Trump called the episode, which also featured a story on opposition to the US in Greenland, “FAKE News.”
“I just finished watching 60 Minutes, the FAKE News Show that was scandalously responsible for REMOVING a terrible and incompetently delivered answer, by failed Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris, to an interview on 60 Minutes, just prior to Election Day, and putting in its place a completely different answer to a completely different question, in order to make Kamala look ‘coherent,’” he said, referencing an edited interview with the former vice president ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
“Now tonight, with two separate but highly inaccurate stories about “TRUMP,” they’re at it again. The people at CBS Fake News just don’t get it!”