Former US President Donald Trump made the declaration that he has called up Russian President Vladimir Putin via telephone to try to end the active Ukraine crisis. Quoting aboard Air Force One, Trump told New York Post in an interview that Putin wants to see people stop dying. “All those dead people. Young, young, beautiful people. They’re like your kids, two million of them – and for no reason,” he said, referring to the human toll of the war.
Trump further suggested that Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, should have inked an agreement with Putin to not escalate the war. “I wouldn’t have allowed the conflict to start if I had been in office.”
Threatening Russia with further sanctions, tariffs, and lower oil prices, Trump failed to unsettle the Kremlin which appears to be unshaken by this war. At least partially, analysts think this may have been due to the fact that Western sanctions have already been applied.
Putin hailed Trump as ‘pragmatic’ and ‘smart’ at the same time, implying the 2020 US election might have been rigged. He establishes a connection between Trump’s defeat and the present situation in Ukraine, hinting that this crisis might not have happened if Trump were president.