Trump does not plan to persuade Putin: Ukrainian journalist Portnikov predicts events if Trump wins election

He said this on the Espreso TV channel.

"First, we need to wait for the results of the US election. Secondly, what Donald Trump says is a statement from a closed meeting with donors. That is, it is what he really thinks. This answers the question: what can he really do? When I say that if Donald Trump is elected, World War III could start, people look at me like I'm crazy. But Donald Trump's statements like this show that.

We think: how is he going to convince Putin? And he is not going to convince him. He is a man with an inflated ego, and if this ego is also emphasized by the position of the US president, then he sincerely believes that if he makes an offer to Putin, Putin must accept it. And if Putin does not accept this position, then he can act by force, because Putin will be afraid of him," Portnikov explained.

The political observer added that it is possible to compare the 2024 US elections (if Trump is elected) with the 2019 elections in Ukraine, when Volodymyr Zelenskyy was elected.

"At first, there will be attempts to reach an agreement. Then, when it becomes clear that Putin does not want to negotiate, there will be a sharp deterioration of relations. And then there may be a military strike, and each will think that the other will be afraid. However, since they both live in their own world, no one will be afraid, and World War III will begin. I don't know whether it will also be in North America or only in Europe, but the rivals will exchange strikes, including nuclear ones. Ukraine will be one of the theaters of war in this war. Not the most important one, by the way, and we will witness this process. This could happen in the next two to three years," Portnikov suggested.

Former US President and presidential candidate Donald Trump said at a private event during the election campaign that he would bomb Moscow if Russia attacked Ukraine if he were president.

Trump's statements about Ukraine

On February 21, 2023, former US President Donald Trump also promised that if he returned to office, he would stop Russia's war against Ukraine in a day. In March, he said that his return to the White House would help stop Russia's war against Ukraine and prevent World War III.

On May 11, 2023, former US President Donald Trump called the attack on Ukraine Putin's mistake, but refused to call him a war criminal, saying it could harm negotiations with Russia.

He called for a reduction in arms supplies to Ukraine. At the same time, he claimed that he would be able to end Russia's war against Ukraine if he became US president in 2024. However, White House National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby said that former US President Donald Trump's comments on the expediency of supporting Ukraine had no impact on US and partner countries' policies.  

Also, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is considered the main Republican rival of former US President Donald Trump in the US elections, said that if he wins, he would not want to see US troops involved in the Russian-Ukrainian war. 

On June 30, 2023, Donald Trump said that Ukraine should cede part of its temporarily occupied territories to Russia and keep what it had "earned" to end the war. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Presidential Office, responded to him and said that Ukraine would not give up the territories, it was a matter of self-respect.

Trump also said that he could force Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to sign a peace deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin within 24 hours of his return to the White House.