During a CNN
town hall event held in New Hampshire, former US president Donald Trump claimed
that he could end the ongoing conflict in Ukraine within a single day if he
were to be re-elected as president. Trump emphasized that he did not think in
terms of winning or losing, but rather in terms of settling the issue and
putting a stop to the loss of life.
“I want
everybody to stop dying. They’re dying. Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to
stop dying. And I’ll have that done,” Trump stated, opposing the establishment
Republican policy of supporting Kyiv.
He went on
to assert that he could negotiate directly with Russian leader Vladimir Putin
and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky to halt the war that began in February
of the previous year.
“I’ll meet
with Putin. I’ll meet with Zelensky. They both have weaknesses and they both
have strengths. And within 24 hours, that war will be settled. It’ll be over,”
Trump said.
However,
Trump declined to comment on whether he believed that Putin was a war criminal
for his alleged involvement in atrocities committed in Ukraine.
“If you say
he’s a war criminal, it’s going to be a lot tougher to make a deal to make this
thing stopped,” he explained.
He further
added that he felt that Putin had made a mistake by invading Ukraine.
“His mistake
was going in. He would have never gone in if I was president,” Trump claimed.
Although Trump has announced his candidacy for
the 2024 presidential election and is considered a frontrunner for the
Republican Party’s nomination, he remains criminally indicted and is under
multiple investigations for serious allegations. Despite this, his supporters
remain loyal to him, and he maintains that he is innocent of any wrongdoi
