Russia Trump blames Selenskyj for the war in Ukraine
The new US President Donald Trump blames Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi for the escalation of the Russian war of aggression.
24.01.2025, 05:37
24.01.2025, 05:38
SDA
"He should not have allowed this to happen either. He is no angel. He should not have allowed this war to happen," Trump told Fox News. However, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin had ordered the war of aggression on neighboring Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia repeatedly justified the invasion of its troops into Ukraine with a "denazification" of the neighboring country. Selensky, however, is of Jewish descent. Russian forces had already occupied parts of Ukraine since 2014 and also seized the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.
Trump did not explicitly say in the interview that Zelensky should have surrendered. However, he formulated it as a reproach to the president for getting involved in the fight against a clearly superior opponent. "He shouldn't have done that."
The alternative? A "deal" could have been made, Trump said, adding, "I could have made a deal so easily. And Selenskyj decided that... "I want to fight"." Ukraine has been defending itself against the attacks for almost three years with Western help.
Russia had 30,000 tanks, Zelenskyi didn't have a single one, Trump said. Then the USA and its allies started to supply more and more equipment - and the Ukrainians had the courage to use it.
During the election campaign, Trump had said that he could end the Russian war of aggression in 24 hours - but failed to provide details on how he intended to achieve this. He repeated that the war must end and once again threatened Russia with sanctions and tariffs. Zelenskyi was ready for an agreement. "He has had enough."
Zelensky welcomes Trump's initiative
Meanwhile, Zelensky welcomed Trump's proposal to end the Russian war of aggression by drastically lowering the price of oil. Oil in particular remains one of the key factors in achieving peace and real security, Selensky said in his evening video message broadcast in Kiev. It was important to keep up the pressure on Russia because the country was trying to continue its aggression and occupation.
Trump had previously stated that he wanted to end the war in Ukraine by lowering the price of oil and talking to Opec and Saudi Arabia about reducing costs. "If the price went down, the Russian-Ukrainian war would stop immediately," said Trump in his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, delivered via video link. "Right now, the price is high enough to keep the war going," Trump said. "I'm going to ask Saudi Arabia and Opec to lower the cost of oil." The price must fall.
The energy superpower Russia is financing its war of aggression by selling oil to India and China, for example. All previous attempts by the West - from an embargo on Russian oil in the USA to a price cap in the EU and sanctions against tankers - have not brought the success Ukraine hoped for in drying up one of the most important sources of funding for Moscow's war.
"You have to lower the price, that's how you can end the war," said Trump. He himself had also previously declared that he would significantly increase oil production in the USA. A higher supply on the world market would cause prices to fall.
Trump wants to talk to Putin about ending the war
Trump has repeatedly stated that he wants to talk to Putin soon about ending the war. So far, he has not presented a plan on how he intends to achieve peace in the complex conflict. Putin himself has declared his willingness to engage in dialog and has also spoken of possible compromises. According to the Kremlin, neither a telephone call nor a meeting between Putin and Trump is in the pipeline.
"We support US President Donald Trump in his desire to reduce the price of oil. As a result, Russia's ability to finance the war will collapse," said the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Andriy Yermak, on his Telegram channel. The aim must be to push the price of a barrel of oil down to 30 US dollars. A hard price drop is also the way to "global security", said Jermak. A barrel of US WTI crude currently costs more than 74 dollars, Opec oil more than 80 dollars per barrel.
Kremlin convinced of economic strength
Russia has massively ramped up its war economy, not least thanks to the gushing revenues from the sale of oil and gas. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow that the Russian economy is strong despite sanctions and still has reserves to cover both military and social spending.
"We continue to have fairly high growth rates - despite certain problem factors," said Peskov, referring to media reports that the economic situation in the country was becoming increasingly difficult, much to Putin's annoyance. Russia is struggling with high inflation and interest rates.
Above all, circumventing Western sanctions is also associated with high additional costs for the giant empire. The Kremlin traditionally plays down the impact of sanctions. Putin has also repeatedly said that the punitive measures have made Russia's economy more resilient because it is concentrating more on its own strengths.
Hostilities continue unabated
Meanwhile, Russian troops continued their advance in Donbass and also carried out new air strikes. In the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia, the number of casualties rose to 52 following a Russian missile attack, as President Zelensky announced in his video message. One person died as a result.
