Michael Hernandez
24 January 2025•Update: 24 January 2025
WASHINGTON
US President Donald Trump equally blamed his Ukrainian and Russian counterparts Thursday for the nearly three-year war in Ukraine, which he said has claimed the lives of far too many "young, beautiful people."
Trump said the war "should end immediately," claiming the death toll is likely far higher than official estimates and saying Russian President Vladimir Putin "shouldn't have" begun the war in 2022. He threatened to further tighten the economic screws on Moscow if a settlement is not reached soon.
"If they don't settle this war soon, like almost immediately, I'm going to put massive tariffs on Russia and massive taxes, and also big sanctions," he said during an interview with Fox News. "I don't want to do that. You know, I love the Russian people. They're great people. I don't want to do that. But we got to get this war ended."
Trump said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy now wants to reach a negotiated end to the conflict, saying "He's had enough. He shouldn't have allowed this to happen either."
"He's no angel. He shouldn't have allowed this war to happen," Trump remarked.
"Zelenskyy was fighting a much bigger entity, much bigger, much more powerful. He shouldn't have done that, because we could have made a deal, and it would have been a deal that would have been a nothing deal. I could have made that deal so easily, and Zelenskyy decided that ‘I want to fight.’"
Trump's remarks came a day after he called on Russia to "settle now" to end the war, which has continued for almost three years, and warned of high "taxes, tariffs and sanctions" if a deal is not reached.
The Kremlin said that Russia is closely monitoring Washington’s rhetoric and remains ready for respectful dialogue between Trump and Putin, like in the US leader’s first term in office.
Trump vowed on the campaign trail to end the war within 24 hours of assuming the presidency, but several of his senior advisors sought to downplay the suggestion as Trump prepared to assume office.
“The Russian casualties, the Ukrainian casualties, the damage to their cities — this is a war that needs to end. And I think he (Trump) can do it in the near term,” Keith Kellogg, a retired US Army lieutenant general whom Trump has tapped to be his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, told Fox News on Jan. 11.
“I really do have a lot of confidence in his ability to actually get to a position where this war is actually over. And I think what people need to understand — he's not trying to give something to Putin or to the Russians. He's actually trying to save Ukraine and save their sovereignty, and he's going to make sure that it's equitable and that it's fair,” he added.
