Trump accuses Zelenskyy of failing to prevent Russia's war

The American leader said this in an interview with Fox News.

Trump mentioned that Volodymyr Zelenskyy now wants to end the war, but according to the U.S. president, "he shouldn't have allowed this war to happen."

According to Trump, the large-scale war between Russia and Ukraine could have been avoided by reaching an agreement.

"You know, if he's no angel, he shouldn't have allowed this war to happen. First of all, he's fighting a much bigger entity, OK? Much bigger. Zelenskyy was fighting a much bigger entity — much bigger, much more powerful. He shouldn't have done that because we could have made a deal and it would have been a deal that would have been — it would have been a nothing deal. I could have made that deal so easily, and Zelenskyy decided that 'I want a fight,'" Trump said.

Trump noted that Russia has a 30,000-strong tank army, whereas “Zelenskyy practically had none.” He added that the U.S. began pouring in equipment repeatedly, and the Ukrainians had the courage to use it. However, Trump emphasized that the war ultimately needs to be resolved.

He also reiterated his earlier warning that if Russia does not take steps to "resolve this war soon," the United States would impose "massive tariffs" and "major sanctions."

• On January 22, U.S. President Donald Trump urged Russian leader Vladimir Putin to reach an agreement to end the war in Ukraine. He threatened to impose high taxes, tariffs, and sanctions on all Russian exports to the U.S. if there was no progress.
• Later, Trump expressed his willingness to meet with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin in the near future to "end this war."