Trump calls himself saviour of Ukraine: ‘Without me it would already be destroyed’

In an interview with The Atlantic, the US president claims his role in the Ukrainian resistance and accuses Zelensky of ingratitude. Criticism of Biden and Europe for the ongoing conflict

Donald Trump is back in the news for emphatic tones and controversial statements. In a long interview granted to The Atlantic, the US president declared: ‘I am saving Ukraine. Without me, that nation would already be annihilated’, crediting himself with the Ukrainian resistance against the Russian invasion and calling Vladimir Putin’s Russia a “great war machine”.

Trump claimed his own decisive intervention in the early days of the conflict: ‘It was I who provided the Javelins that destroyed the Russian tanks. It was a crucial moment, the tanks were 115 kilometres from Kiev. If they had advanced, the war would have been over in a day’.

Distance from Zelensky and accusations against Biden

During the interview, the American leader made a clear distinction between the Ukrainian people and President Volodymyr Zelensky, with whom he made no secret of having had moments of tension: ‘I’m not necessarily on Zelensky’s side, but on the side of the Ukrainians. Here in the White House he didn’t understand anything, he should have just kept quiet. He had already got his way,’ he said referring to a meeting he had on 28 February.

Trump also criticised Kiev’s lack of gratitude: ‘We gave them $350 billion, Europe much less. And then he says they fought alone,’ he commented with obvious irritation.

‘The war will be over in a week. It’s Biden’s war.’

The president then accused Joe Biden of being the real culprit in the conflict: ‘It should never have started. This is Biden’s war, not mine. I am not in charge of it’. According to Trump, the conflict is now nearing an end: ‘It will last about a week, we are in the last throes’.

Finally, he suggested that support for Ukraine does not necessarily have to come through arms: ‘There are other weapons: sanctions, banking measures. You don’t always need artillery.’

Trump’s statements reignite the debate on American foreign policy and his stance towards Russia and Ukraine, with tones that mix self-aggrandisement, distrust of allied leaders and an all-personal diplomatic strategy.

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