President Trump indicated he is open to backing Ukraine in its ongoing war against Russia, despite his personal misgivings about President Volodymyr Zelensky, while Vice President JD Vance offered a stark assessment that Ukraine is unlikely to win the conflict if it continues along its current path.
During an extensive interview with the Atlantic magazine, Trump, 78, was asked if there was anything Russian leader Vladimir Putin could do that would push him to support Zelensky’s cause.
“Not necessarily on Zelensky’s side, but on Ukraine’s side, yes,” Trump responded, according to the transcript. “But not necessarily on Zelensky’s side. I’ve had a hard time with Zelensky. You saw that over here [Feb. 28] when he was sitting right in that chair, when he just couldn’t get it.”
Pressed on whether he would ever offer Ukraine full-throated support through additional arms shipments, Trump left the door open but remained noncommittal.
“Doesn’t have to be weapons. There are many forms of weapons,” Trump said. “It can be weapons with sanctions. It can be weapons with banking. It can be many other weapons.”
Trump and Zelensky recently had a brief 15-minute meeting at St. Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, their first encounter since the Oval Office clash years earlier that had ended with a blowup involving Vance.
Following that encounter, Trump turned his ire on Putin, criticizing Russia’s recent bombardments.
“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
Meanwhile, Vice President Vance, 40, defended Trump’s recent diplomatic efforts during an interview with Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, arguing that Trump has made more headway toward ending the war than previous administrations.
“Have the Russians and Ukrainians stopped fighting? No, but have we made more progress in three months than we made the previous three years? Absolutely,” Vance said.
“And you have even the Ukrainians, the Europeans, the Russians, all sort of simultaneously admitting, sometimes begrudgingly, that Donald Trump’s diplomacy has advanced the ball there.”
Vance warned, however, that although he couldn’t guarantee a peaceful resolution, he was confident that Ukraine is not on track to win if the fighting drags on.
“I think there’s this weird idea among the mainstream media that if this thing goes on for just another few years, the Russians will collapse, the Ukrainians will take their territory back, and everything will go back to the way it was before the war,” he said. “That is not the reality we live in.”
He also cautioned that if the war continues, both Russia and Ukraine could face a devastating demographic crisis, and the world could be pushed closer to the brink of nuclear conflict.
Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have both floated the idea that the White House might eventually pull back from the Russia-Ukraine war, though Trump himself has not set a hard deadline.
“We’ll have to see what happens over the next period of pretty much a week,” Trump told the Atlantic. “We’re down to final strokes. And again, this is [former President Joe] Biden’s war. I’m not gonna get saddled — I don’t wanna be saddled with it. It’s a terrible war. Should have never happened. It would’ve never happened, as sure as you’re sitting there.”
In the meantime, Putin declared a temporary three-day ceasefire beginning May 8 to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
“For some reason everyone is supposed to wait until May 8 before ceasing fire — just to provide Putin with silence for his parade,” Zelensky said angrily on Monday. “We value human lives, not parades. That’s why we believe — and the world believes — that there is no reason to wait until May 8.”
“[A cease-fire] must be immediate, full, and unconditional — for at least 30 days to ensure it is secure and guaranteed. This is the foundation that could lead to real diplomacy. We reaffirm this proposal,” he continued. “The American proposal also remains on the table.”
{Matzav.com}