US President Donald Trump has described the Russian and Chinese leaders as “tough” and “smart,” while claiming that his current approach to pressuring Moscow to end the Ukraine invasion is “working.”
In an interview recorded Friday and aired on @Kyivpost_official.
“The only one I haven’t been successful yet in… is Russia-Ukraine, which I thought actually would be the easiest one because I have a very good relationship with President Putin,” Trump said.
Trump repeated his claims that he could end Russia’s war in Ukraine within months, while once again asserting the invasion would never have happened under his leadership.
The full transcript of the interview, released Sunday by CBS, contained only brief remarks about Ukraine.
‘Tariffs and trade’ as tools of peace
When O’Donnell noted that Trump has called himself “the peace president,” he argued that his success in ending conflicts came from economic pressure, not traditional diplomacy.
“I solved eight of the nine wars,” Trump said. “You know how I solved ’em? I said, in many cases, ‘If you don’t stop fighting, I’m putting tariffs on both of your countries and you’re not gonna be able to do business with the United States.’”
Asked why that strategy hasn’t worked with Putin, Trump said, “It is working.”
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“It is working with Putin, I think. I did different with him because we don’t do very much business with Russia… I think he wants to come in and he wants to trade with us, and he wants to make a lotta money for Russia, and I think that’s great.”
Pressed on whether he could end the war in just a few months, Trump added:
“I think we’re gonna get it done, yeah. … If it wasn’t for tariffs and trade, I wouldn’t have been able to make the deals.”
‘Tough, smart leaders’
Earlier in the conversation, O’Donnell asked Trump who was tougher to deal with – Putin or China’s Xi Jinping. Trump said both were formidable figures.
“Both tough. Both smart,” he said. “They’re not people to be toyed with… These are serious people. These are people that are tough, smart leaders.”
Trump went on to defend his approach to diplomacy, saying he had “rolled out the red carpet for everybody,” not only Putin – a likely reference to his summit with Putin in Alaska, when the two walked side by side on a red carpet during Putin’s reception.
When O’Donnell asked about the lack of a ceasefire in Ukraine, Trump said Putin believed he was “winning,” blaming what he described as former President Joe Biden’s weak leadership.
On US weaponry for Kyiv
Trump acknowledged that Biden had supplied Ukraine with vast sums and advanced weapons, but used the point to highlight his own record of military spending.
“Joe Biden gave $350 billion to Ukraine, including a lot of weapons, a tremendous amount of weapons, which allowed them to fight, ’cause we make the best weapons in the world,” Trump said. “I rebuilt our military during my first term. They used a lotta those weapons in that war.”
Trump’s $350 billion claim contradicts official US figures and remains unsubstantiated.
He argued instead that the war itself – not the US response to it – was a consequence of Biden’s presidency.
“That was a war that would’ve never happened if I was president,” Trump said. “[Putin] even said that.”
He offered no specific plan for ending the war, nor any indication of what a negotiated settlement might involve for Ukraine. Instead, he framed the issue around his own ability to “do business” with Putin and contrasted that with what he described as Biden’s failure to deter the invasion.
His remarks come as Russian forces continue attacking civilian areas across eastern and southern Ukraine, and as US military support for Kyiv shifts from direct aid to arms purchases.
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