Former US President Donald Trump spoke of Ukraine in starkly negative terms, referring to people there as “dead” and the country as “demolished” as he said in North Carolina on Wednesday. His comments freshened questions about how he might negotiate Ukraine’s future if he is re-elected, suggesting Ukraine should have made concessions to Russia before Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

Trump argued that Ukraine might have avoided such devastation had it negotiated with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “The worst deal would have been better than what we have now,” Trump said. Trump restated that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if he were still president, which was reiterated on multiple occasions and vowed to end the war quickly if returned to the White House.

At the ceremony, primarily economic in purpose, Trump broadened his attack on the conflict to encompass Ukraine’s apparent losses and weakened position: “Ukraine is a country outside Kyiv in ruins, and I don’t know if it has the kind of clout it needs to negotiate anything of substance. “Any deal — the worst deal — would’ve been better than what we have now,” Trump said. “It would’ve been much better if they made a bad deal. They would’ve given up a little bit, and everybody would be living, and every building would be standing.”

He stresses Ukraine’s heavy toll from the war, adding, “What deal can we make? It’s demolished. The people are dead. The country is in rubble.”.

Trump delivered his speech during the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the United States, where he addressed the UN General Assembly and met with US officials about his “victory plan” for the war. He’s asking for stronger weapons from the West to smash Russian troops. So, even though Ukraine has already outdone the expectations placed on it by beating the initial forecast for doing in the war, it continues to face strenuous battles on the eastern front, as the forces are fewer than that of the Russian army.

Trump also targeted Zelensky’s recent criticism. On one occasion of a recent interview, Zelensky said that he was in no way able to conclude this war and described Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, as “too radical” for suggesting Ukraine should surrender territories to Russia. These remarks have been responded to by Trump, who said, “The president of Ukraine is in our country making little nasty aspersions toward your favourite president, me.”.

Throughout his speech, Trump blamed the president, Joe Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris for the continued conflict because, he said, their support for the defence of Ukraine had been prolonging it. He claimed they were “egging it all on” by giving them money and military equipment instead of telling Ukraine to give ground to Russia. “Biden and Kamala allowed this to happen by feeding Zelensky money and munitions like no country has ever seen before,” Trump said.

Trump did not attack Putin directly but rather indicated he would have never started the war had he been in control. However, he admitted, “Putin’s no angel.”.

Combined with previous criticism of the U.S. provision of aid to Ukraine, Trump’s comments continue to indicate that he will be less interventionist in foreign conflicts than the current administration. Many can only speculate about what a Trump administration would do if he were to return to the presidency and, more specifically, how he might proceed with the war.