President Donald Trump said that Russia is in a stronger military position in its war with Ukraine and chided European leaders for what he characterized as excessive dialog with scant results.
Trump made the comments in a wide-ranging interview with Politico published early Tuesday. Asked whether Ukraine has lost the war, Trump pointed to the swaths of land that Russia’s military has occupied in the country.
“Russia has the upper hand. And they always did. They’re much bigger and stronger in that sense. I give the people of Ukraine and the military of Ukraine tremendous credit for the bravery and the fighting all of that. But at some point size will win, generally, and this is a massive size,” Trump said.
He alluded to the magnitude of Russia’s military as a likely inevitability to the country prevailing in the conflict.
“They lost territory long before I got here. They lost a whole strip of sea front a big sea front. They lost a lot of land and its very good land that they lost. You certainly wouldn’t say that its a victory,” the U.S. president said.
Russia’s territorial gains in Ukraine came at an immense economic and human cost with more than 1.5 million troops killed or wounded on both sides, according to western estimates. Still, almost four years since starting his full-scale invasion Russia’s Vladimir Putin has failed to take full control of the entire eastern region of Donbas in a war that he meant to end in a few days.
In recent weeks, the U.S. has intensified efforts to forge a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. Earlier this week Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said negotiators remain divided over territory. There also needs to be further discussion on U.S. security guarantees, he said.
“Well, he’s gonna have to get on the ball and start accepting things. You know, when you’re losing, ’cause he’s losing,” Trump said in the Politico interview.
The U.S. president criticized Europe on multiple fronts, saying that the countries haven’t done an adequate job in finding peace between Russia and Ukraine.
Trump deepened criticism of the continent that was outlined in a national security report he signed last week, along cultural lines.
“They talk too much. And they’re not producing. We’re talking about Ukraine. They talk but they don’t produce. And the war just keeps going on and on,” Trump said.
Earlier Tuesday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said elements of a new U.S. national security strategy are unacceptable to Europe, advising Trump to refrain from a go-it-alone approach.
“It confirms my assessment that we in Europe, and therefore also in Germany, must become much more independent from the U.S. in terms of security policy,” Merz said.
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—With assistance from Piotr Skolimowski and Ben Sills.
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