As US-Russia talks continue in Saudi Arabia, we look at the US president’s misleading and outright false statements
The US president, Donald Trump, has made a number of at best controversial – and at worst outright false and misleading – statements about Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, while praising the progress made in US-Russia talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Here, we look at his claims.
“But today I heard: ‘Oh, well, we weren’t invited.’ Well, you’ve been there for three years. You should have ended it three years. You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”
The facts: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was unprovoked and widely condemned by the international community as an act of aggression.
In the lead-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Zelenskyy repeatedly offered to meet his Russian counterpart. Five days before Russian troops rolled into Ukraine, Zelenskyy said: “We are ready to sit down and speak. Pick the platform that you like.”
To deter Moscow from launching the invasion, the US declassified and released intelligence reports exposing Russia’s plans to attack, warning that harsh economic sanctions would follow if the Kremlin proceeded.
In the days and weeks after the invasion, Ukrainian and Russian negotiators held several rounds of talks in Belarus and Turkey. However, Russia’s demands were maximalist, including the partial...
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