Former US President Donald Trump has announced that he will stop transferring tens of billions of dollars to Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and vowed to "fix" the situation in Ukraine if he is re-elected this year.
"I think Zelensky is probably the greatest businessman a politician has ever had," Trump told supporters at the People's Forum, a philanthropic event hosted by Operation Turning Point in Michigan on Saturday.
"Every time he comes to our country, he brings $60 billion," Trump said of the Ukrainian leader. - Well, that's the beauty. He left four days earlier with $60 billion and came home saying he needed another $60 billion if he didn't stop and never stop.
The United States and other G7 countries on Thursday announced a $50 billion loan to Ukraine that will be backed by proceeds from $300 billion in frozen assets. Although Zelensky stopped short of asking for an additional $60 billion after leaving the G7 summit in Italy, he has repeatedly accused Western backers of not providing enough money and weapons and asked Republican lawmakers in Washington to approve $61 billion in military aid. package in April.
"I'm going to get ready before I get to the White House," Trump told a crowd in Michigan. "As president-elect, I will solve this problem." Trump insisted, as he has repeatedly since 2022, that the war in Ukraine "wouldn't have happened" if he was president.
Trump has repeatedly argued that President Joe Biden's policy of providing unlimited military support to Ukraine is leading the United States to "World War III" and has promised to end the war "with the 2020." —if he beats Biden in the November presidential election.
Trump has yet to say how he will do it, other than encouraging Zelensky to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but recent reports from Bloomberg and the Washington Post suggest he will he used the American price against Kyiv. Massive military aid forced Zelenskiy to fall. some pre-conflict areas of Ukraine. However, Trump stopped short of asking his friends in Congress to block the $61 billion aid package in April, saying at the time that he would support future funding to Zelensky for giving money.