SAVANNAH, Ga. — SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Donald Trump on Tuesday praised Russia’s military record in historic conflicts and ridiculed US aid to Ukraine He reiterated that if elected president he would quickly end the war sparked by the invasion of Moscow.
Speaking in Savannah, Georgia, Trump mocked President Joe Biden’s frequent pronouncement that the U.S. would support Ukrainian forces until Kiev won the war. He cited two long-ago conflicts to suggest that Moscow would not lose: the former Soviet Union’s role in defeating Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in World War II in the 1940s, and the failed invasion of Russia by French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte more than a century earlier.
Trump insisted the US “must withdraw,” though he did not specify how he would negotiate an end to US involvement in the war.
“Biden says, ‘We’re not leaving until we win,'” Trump said, lowering his voice to mimic the Democratic president. “What happens when they win? That’s what they do, they fight wars. As someone told me the other day, they beat Hitler, they beat Napoleon. That’s what they do. They fight. And it’s not pretty.”
A Trump campaign official also said Tuesday that the Republican candidate will not meet this week with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is visiting the U.S. to attend the opening of the U.N. General Assembly.
According to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning, no meeting was scheduled between the two, despite a statement by Ukrainian officials last week that Zelenskyy planned to meet with the former president.
Trump on Tuesday reiterated his characterization of Zelenskyy as “the greatest salesman on the planet” for winning U.S. help to aid Ukraine.
“Every time Zelenskyy comes to the United States, he runs off with $100 billion,” Trump said, falsely. The U.S. has provided more than $56 billion in security assistance since Russia invaded in 2022, the State Department said.
Trump and Zelenskyy have a long history dating back to the former US president’s time in the White House. Then-President Zelenskyy put under pressure to open investigations into Biden and his son Hunter, as well as a cybersecurity firm that Trump falsely linked to Ukraine. That call — and the White House’s blocking of $400 million in military aid — led to Trump’s first impeachment.
Zelenskyy plans to meet Biden and Harris in Washington.
Earlier this week, in an interview with The New Yorker, Zelensky suggested that Trump does not understand and is oversimplifying the conflict, saying his running mate J.D. Vance is “too radical” and is essentially advocating for Ukraine to “make a sacrifice” by “giving up its territories.”
On Monday, Trump’s son Donald Jr. criticized Zelenskyy on X, reminding his followers that the suspect in his father’s second assassination attempt criticized Trump’s approach to foreign policy, including the war in Ukraine.
“So a foreign leader who has received billions of dollars in funding from American taxpayers comes to our country and has the audacity to attack the GOP ticket for president?” he posted.
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Michelle L. Price, an Associated Press editor in New York, contributed to this report.