US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Ukraine should never have started the war with Russia, arguing that Kyiv could have reached a deal to prevent the conflict.
“You should have never started it,” Trump said, referring to Ukraine while criticizing President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
His remarks came after Zelenskyy expressed frustration over Ukraine being excluded from recent US-Russia talks held in Saudi Arabia.
Speaking at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump claimed he could have negotiated a settlement that would have avoided war.
“I could have made a deal for Ukraine that would have given them almost all of the land, everything, and no people would have been killed, no city destroyed, and not one dome knocked down,” he said.
US-Russia talks in Riyadh
Trump’s statements come as the US and Russia agreed to re-establish embassy staffing in a high-level discussion—marking a shift in American policy.
Zelenskyy said earlier that Ukraine was unaware of these talks.
Trump has increasingly made comments that align with Russian interests.
Last month, he told Fox News that Ukraine should not have resisted Russia’s invasion.
He also claimed last week that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had spoken by phone about ending the war.
The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it had agreed to hold additional discussions with Russia on ending the war in Ukraine, following an initial meeting that did not include Kyiv.
The move signals a shift from Washington’s previous strategy of rallying allies to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During the 4.5-hour meeting in Riyadh, Russia reinforced its stance, making it clear that it would not accept Ukraine’s potential NATO membership.
The talks, held in the Saudi capital, marked the first direct engagement between US and Russian officials on resolving the conflict—the deadliest in Europe since World War II.
However, Ukraine has firmly stated that it will not accept any settlement made without its involvement.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz echoed this sentiment, emphasizing that “there must be no decision over the heads of Ukraine.”
Concerns over US approach
Even before the meeting, some European leaders criticized the Trump administration for making concessions to Moscow.
Last week, Washington ruled out Ukraine’s NATO membership and dismissed the idea that Kyiv could reclaim the 20% of its territory currently occupied by Russian forces.
US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz acknowledged that any resolution would involve negotiations over land and security arrangements.
“The reality is that there will have to be discussions on territorial issues and security guarantees,” he told reporters in Riyadh.
To facilitate future negotiations, high-level teams will continue talks on ending the war, while a separate effort will focus on restoring U.S. and Russian diplomatic missions in Washington and Moscow, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed.
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