US President Donald Trump claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin “wanted” the war in Ukraine and would not be open to ending the invasion if the American president had not begun pushing for negotiations earlier this month.
“That war would have never started if I were president,” Trump said during his first cabinet meeting on Wednesday, repeating the claim he’d made for months on the campaign trail.
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His latest comments come after he said multiple times in recent weeks that Ukraine was to blame for both starting the war and failing to end it before he backtracked and said Russia was the aggressor.
“You have to understand, [Putin] had no intention, in my opinion, of settling this war,” he said. “I think he wanted the whole thing.”
Trump said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would visit the White House on Friday to sign an initial security agreement regarding the country’s mineral resources.
Trump added that, while he believed a peace agreement would be signed on Friday, he could not be sure. He has recently said several times in the last week that a deal would be signed “very soon.”
‘We’re Gonna Have Europe Do That’ – Trump Says No US Security Guarantees for Ukraine
“When I got elected, we spoke, and I think we’re gonna have a deal – I can’t guarantee that,” Trump said.
He told reporters to stop asking for more details about the pending peace negotiations and said they should instead focus on the diplomatic moves he has made since entering office.
“Until four weeks ago, nobody had conversations with anybody – it wasn’t even a consideration,” he said. “Nobody thought you could make peace.”
Regarding potential concessions in the peace deal, Trump said: “NATO, you can forget about that.”
Secretary of State Pete Hegseth first said the new administration would not back NATO membership for Ukraine during the Munich Security Conference earlier this month, upsetting many Western allies.
Trump also ruled out offering US security guarantees for Ukraine in upcoming peace settlements. “Well, I’m not going to make security guarantees beyond... we’re gonna have Europe do that... ’cause Europe is their next-door neighbor,” he said.
Trump added that US presence alone via the mineral deal would equate to some form of “automatic guarantee” since “nobody’s going to mess around with our people when we’re there.”
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Wednesday that security guarantees have to be tied in with the mineral deal.
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