Former President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, has said that if he were the current president, he would end the protracted war between Russia and Ukraine in 24 hours, despite their strengths.
To achieve this, Trump said he would have a negotiation with Russian and Ukrainian Presidents, Vladimirovich Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, respectively.
Trump said this on Wednesday in a CNN town hall before a live audience in the state of New Hampshire.
“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.
On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded and occupied parts of Ukraine in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which had begun in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides and instigated Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II.
He, however, added that Putin made a mistake by invading Ukraine.
He said Putin would not have done such if he was the President of the US.
“Putin made a mistake by invading Ukraine. His mistake was going in. He would have never gone in if I was president,” Trump said.
The 45th US President who served from 2017 to 2021 has announced his interest to contest for the US presidency in 2024. He is a frontrunner to be the Republican Party’s nominee.
He further said, “I want everybody to stop dying. They’re dying. Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done. “I’ll have that done in 24 hours. I’ll have it done. You need the power of the presidency to do it.”
However, the former Governor of New Jersey, James Christie, has criticised Trump for refusing to declare he wanted Ukraine to win the war.
Christie said this on his official Twitter handle (@GovChristie) on Thursday morning.
He tweeted, “Donald Trump refused to say tonight that he wanted Ukraine to win the war with Russia. More proof that he continues to be Putin’s puppet.”
In another tweet, the former governor said, “Donald Trump says he would end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours tonight on CNN. Despite how ridiculous that is to say, I suspect he would try to do it by turning Ukraine over to Putin and Russia. #Putin’sPuppet.”