Donald Trump goes full pro-Putin, blames Ukraine for ‘starting’ the war, and mocks it for seeking missiles
In a resurfacing clip from April, Donald Trump casually rewrote the history of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He quite literally blamed Ukraine for being the aggressor, and sneered at President Zelenskyy for trying to defend his country. The talking points aren’t just wrong, they’re straight out of the Kremlin’s playbook.
The clip making the rounds on X again comes from an April press exchange in the White House. A reporter asked Trump about Ukraine’s request to buy more Patriot missile systems to combat the Russian offensive. Remember the keyword: “Buy.” The question was simple, but Trump’s answer was not. He scoffed and painted Ukraine as a freeloader trying to stir up a conflict while it was simply defending itself:
“I don’t know. He’s always looking to purchase missiles. Listen, when you start a war, you’ve got to know that you can win the war, right? You don’t start a war against somebody that’s 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles.”
With that single response, Trump managed to propagate three false agendas at once. He mocked Ukraine for defending itself, falsely accused it of starting the war, and subtly shifted “purchase” into “give.” As if Kyiv were begging rather than paying. The central problem, of course, is that Ukraine didn’t start the war.
Even school-going children know the fact that it was Russia that launched an invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. In fact, the initial conflict of 2014 was also fanned by Russia after it illegally annexed Crimea (via Britannica). Afterward, Putin armed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine and has been pursuing his invasive agenda ever since. That isn’t disputed history, but a documented fact.
But Trump’s framing flips that reality on its head. He seems to be reading different history books. Or, probably not reading at all. In his version, Ukraine is undeserving of support for trying to defend itself against Russia. According to his logic, Zelenskyy should have straight-up surrendered to Russia, because there’s obviously no way Ukraine would win. “Why put up a fight at all?” is Trump’s argument.
The rhetoric fits neatly with Trump’s long-running hostility toward U.S. aid to Kyiv. He has repeatedly criticized military assistance to Ukraine and framed it as wasteful. He always argued for a fast “negotiated” end to the war, even if it required Ukraine to give up. Users on X brutally called him out, labeling him “Putin’s pet” and accusing him of “spewing Kremlin lies.”
What makes the clip especially jarring is how casually Trump delivers the accusation without hesitation. There’s no acknowledgment of Russia’s role, and no empathy for a country that has spent nearly four years under invasion. Just a shrug, a sneer, and a lecture about knowing your place.
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