US President Donald Trump has criticised the actions of Russian authorities over the war against Ukraine and said the Russian economy is “going to hell”.
“I’m very unhappy with what Russia is doing, what President Putin is doing…he’s killing people for no reason…their business-very bad. Their economy is going to hell. They’re bombing everything and taking very little territory, if any. In fact, they’re losing territory. And it’s bad for Russia’s reputation,” Trump said on 25 September, speaking to reporters at the White House.
He said that if this were a US war, it would be “over in a week,” while Russia’s war against Ukraine is in its fourth year.
“Fourth year of war. And look what they got. In the last month, not much at all. And you report all these bombings, all these drones, 900 drones going into certain areas like Kiev in one night. And with all of that, they captured very little. So I’m very disappointed in Putin,” the US president said.
US President Donald Trump, after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in New York, delivered an unprecedentedly harsh criticism of Russia, which he called a “paper tiger”, and said that Ukraine, with the help of the EU, had the ability to reclaim all the territories occupied by Russian troops.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the US president’s critical remarks and also the comparison with a “paper tiger”. He expressed the opinion that Trump’s words are primarily driven by US business interests, in particular the desire to sell more oil and gas, and also suggested that his position could have been influenced by his meeting with Zelensky.
In addition, Peskov called Trump’s statements about Ukraine’s ability to reclaim territory “false.”
US Vice President J.D. Vance said Trump is becoming incredibly impatient with Russia because he believes it is not doing enough to end the war.
“This is not a change of position. It’s a recognition of the reality on the ground,” Vance added when asked why there has been a change in Trump’s position on the war in Ukraine.