- Trump blasted Joe Biden for Russia's decision to order additional troops into Ukraine.
- "If properly handled, there was absolutely no reason that the situation currently happening in Ukraine should have happened at all."
- His statement stands in stark contrast to his past comments that downplayed Russia's occupation of Ukrainian territory.
Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday questioned whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would have ordered additional troops into Ukraine during his time in office and criticized President Joe Biden's initial sanctions.
"If properly handled, there was absolutely no reason that the situation currently happening in Ukraine should have happened at all," Trump said in a statement. "I know Vladimir Putin very well, and he would have never done during the Trump Administration what he is doing now, no way!"
Trump also expressed outrage over Russia "taking over a country and a massive piece of strategically located land," a stark contrast to some of his past comments that downplayed Russia's occupation of Ukrainian territory.
President Joe Biden has ordered sanctions on Russia-backed separatist regions after Putin moved to recognize them as independent states. Biden is set to address the nation at 1 p.m., which could include news of additional sanctions.
"We'll see what Russia does," Trump told reporters in 2018 when asked if he would recognize Russia's seizure of Crimea just before a summit with Putin. As a presidential candidate, Trump went so far as to suggest in 2016 that Ukrainian people in Crimea "would rather be with Russia," echoing a key plank of the Kremlin's talking points.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo later issued a formal declaration in July 2018 that the US would not recognize Russia's claim to Crimea.
The Washington Post reported in 2019 that Trump suggested to top US officials that Ukraine was "not a real country" and was far more concerned about conspiracy theories about Ukrainian officials hurting his 2016 presidential campaign than Russia's ongoing occupation. Putin has repeatedly suggested that Ukraine is not an actual country, and has referred to Ukrainians and Russians as "one people."
Trump in 2019 was impeached by the House, in part, for withholding roughly $400 million in congressionally-approved military aid from Ukraine as he pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, over bogus allegations of corruption. He also pressured Zelensky to launch an inquiry over a bogus conspiracy theory that Ukraine — not Russia — intefered in the 2016 US presidential election.
Biden at the time was among Trump's top political rivals with the 2020 election on the horizon. Trump withheld the aid from Ukraine as it continued to fight a war against Russia-backed rebels in the eastern Donbas region — a conflict that's claimed over 13,000 lives. Ukraine has heavily relied on US aid amid this conflict.
Throughout his presidency, Trump's amicable demeanor toward Putin and apparent willingness to trust the Russian leader raised criticism in Washington as well as rampant speculation about the nature of their relationship. His decision to withhold military aid from Ukraine amid an ongoing war with Russia-backed forces amplified concerns about the dynamic between Trump and Putin.