WASHINGTON
US President Donald Trump accused Ukraine’s leadership on Sunday of showing “zero gratitude” for American efforts to end the war with Russia, while blaming his predecessor for the conflict.
“Ukraine ‘leadership’ has expressed zero gratitude for our efforts, and Europe continues to buy oil from Russia,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
He claimed the war “would have never happened” with “strong and proper US and Ukrainian leadership” and said it began during “the Sleepy Joe Biden Administration.”
He argued that if the 2020 election had not been “rigged and stolen,” there would be no Ukraine-Russia war, claiming Russian President Vladimir Putin “would never have attacked.”
Trump said he “inherited a war that should have never happened, a war that is a loser for everyone, especially the millions of people that have so needlessly died.”
The comments came as senior US and Ukrainian officials are holding discussions in Geneva on a 28-point US peace plan.
The draft plan appears to require Ukraine to surrender additional territory to Russia, limit its military size, and formally abandon NATO membership.
Trump, who said the plan would not be his “final offer,” gave Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy until Thursday to respond.
Zelenskyy said he faces a choice between “loss of our dignity or the risk of losing a key partner.”
On Saturday, leaders of nine European countries plus Japan, Canada, and EU officials expressed concern over proposed limitations on Ukraine’s armed forces, warning they “would leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attack.”
