Top Priority but Tough Words: Trump Blasts Zelensky While Pledging to End War

March 5 ------ US President Donald Trump said that settling Russia’s war against Ukraine remains “very high” on his list of priorities, even as he launched a fresh attack on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over US military aid and weapons stockpiles.

Trump made the remarks during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House, where he was asked about the status of efforts to end the war. “Regarding Russia and Ukraine – where is it on my priority list? Very high. I thought it would be much easier than it turned out to be,” Trump said.

He pointed to what he described as deep personal animosity between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky. “There is tremendous hatred between President Putin and President Zelensky, tremendous hatred. I’ve seen a lot of hatred in my life, but I think this one is at the very top of the scale,” Trump said. While expressing confidence that a settlement would eventually be reached, he said responsibility for the stalemate does not lie with only one side. “Sometimes I blame one, sometimes I blame the other. I think it’s going to happen, but it’s high in my list,” he said.

Trump also argued that the war does not directly affect the US “because it’s very far away,” but cited what he claimed were heavy casualties. “For the last four weeks, actually 32,000 soldiers died; 32,000, and it’s been averaging 25 to 30,000 soldiers a month that have been dying in that stupid war, and I’d love to see it ended,” he said, calling the conflict “the worst that there has been since World War II.”

Stockpiles and “hundreds of billions”

Earlier that morning, Trump published a post on his Truth Social platform asserting that US munitions stockpiles are strong, particularly in the “medium and upper medium grade,” which he said have “never been higher or better.” He claimed the US has a “virtually unlimited supply” of certain categories of weapons and said wars could be fought “forever” using such reserves.

However, he acknowledged that at the highest end, supplies are “not where we want to be,” while adding that additional high-grade weaponry is stored abroad. In the same post, Trump sharply criticized former President Joe Biden’s support for Ukraine, accusing him of transferring vast quantities of US arms without properly replenishing them.

“Sleepy Joe Biden spent all of his time, and our Country’s money, GIVING everything to P.T. Barnum (Zelensky!) of Ukraine – Hundreds of Billions of Dollars worth,” Trump wrote, alleging that high-end weapons had been given away “FREE!” and not replaced. He insisted that he had rebuilt the US military during his first term and continues to strengthen it, declaring that the United States is “stocked, and ready to WIN, BIG!!!”

Source: kyivpost.com