President Donald Trump on Thursday appeared to offer a rationale for Ukraine to go on offense against Russia, notable rhetoric as the momentum around peace talks has stalled.
“It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invaders country. It’s like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense, but is not allowed to play offense. There is no chance of winning! It is like that with Ukraine and Russia,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
He continued, “Crooked and grossly incompetent Joe Biden would not let Ukraine FIGHT BACK, only DEFEND. How did that work out? Regardless, this is a war that would have NEVER happened if I were President – ZERO CHANCE. Interesting times ahead!!!”
Trump’s rhetoric may touch a nerve in Moscow, which regards any support of Ukrainian strikes on its soil as a red line. During the Biden administration, it was long-standing policy that Ukraine could not launch long-range American-made missiles into Russia. After that changed in November 2024 — following pressure from US allies — Russia updated its nuclear doctrine, confirming that it would consider any assault on it supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack.
Days later, it fired its new medium-range intercontinental ballistic missile, the Oreshnik, at the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Russia regularly uses Ukrainian long-range drone strikes on energy and military facilities to back up its claims the Ukrainian government is a “terrorist regime.”
Trump’s comments come as the Kremlin has openly contradicted the White House on plans for a bilateral meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, suggesting that leader-level talks are far from imminent and that Putin has yet to agree to such a meeting.
Additionally, Russia launched a sweeping series of airstrikes on Ukraine overnight, including an attack on an American-owned manufacturing company that injured at least 15 people.
Shortly after that Truth Social post, Trump also posted a photo of himself meeting with Putin on top of a picture taken in 1959 of then-Vice President Richard Nixon seeming to confront Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. The latter became a symbol of the US standing up to Soviet-era Russia pressure.
Clare Sebastian contributed to this report.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
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