Former President Donald Trump says he will not be traveling to Ukraine, despite an invitation from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Recently, Zelenskyy invited the former president to visit Ukraine so that he could see just the state of the war in Ukraine. Yet, in a statement that Trump provided to Newsmax, he declined that invitation.
Trump said in that statement:
“I have great respect for President Zelenskyy, but think it would be inappropriate to go to Ukraine at this time. The Biden administration is currently dealing with him, and I would not want to create a conflict of interest.”
That’s certainly an interesting way for Trump to respond, considering he has taken just about every possible chance he gets to criticize President Joe Biden. But, in a way, Trump’s response could be seen as a veiled criticism of the U.S. president.
In addition, it’s very possible that Trump just believes it’s best for him to stay out of those politics for now – at least in terms of getting directly involved.
Zelenskyy, in a way, was inviting Trump to Ukraine to sort of set him up. Trump has claimed for a while now that if he were president he could solve the war that Ukraine is fighting with Russia in “24 hours.” The Ukrainian president countered those claims by saying it would take him just “24 minutes” to show Trump just how not possible that would be.
Speaking with NBC recently, Zelenskyy said:
“Former President Trump said that about 24 hours, that he can manage it and finish the war. For me, what can I say? So, he’s very welcome as well. President Biden was here, and he – I think he understood some details which you can understand only being here.
“So, I invite President Trump. If he can come here, I will need 24 minutes – yes, 24 minutes, not more. Yes, not more. Twenty-four minutes to explain President Trump that he can’t manage this war.”
Zelenskyy added that entering into diplomacy with Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, isn’t possible, even though Trump has said that it is. The Ukrainian president continued:
“He can’t bring peace because of the Putin. If, but always there is an ‘if,’ if he’s not trying and if he’s not ready to give our territory for this terrible man, for the Putin, if you are not ready to give it, if you are not ready to give our independence. He can’t manage it.”
Zelenskyy has called on the U.S. to give Ukraine more funding that would help them fight back the forces from Russia. He has said that it’s possible that soldiers from the U.S. could be drawn into a larger conflict in Europe with Russia should Washington not step up and provide additional support to stop it from escalating now.
As he said on his NBC appearing:
“If Russia will kill all of us, they will attack NATO countries and you will send your sons and daughters [to fight].”
