Former President Donald Trump is criticizing President Joe Bidenās handling of the tense stand-off between Russia and Ukraine.
In a statement on Tuesday, Trump said, āIf properly handled, there was absolutely no reason that the situation currently happening in Ukraine should have happened at all. I know Vladimir Putin very well, and he would have never done during the Trump Administration what he is doing now, no way!ā
āThe weak sanctions are insignificant relative to taking over a country and a massive piece of strategically located land. Now it has begun, oil prices are going higher and higher, and Putin is not only getting what he always wanted, but getting, because of the oil and gas surge, richer and richer,ā he continued.
Finally, he said, āThe U.S. was energy independent under the Trump Administration, an independence that we had never obtained before, and oil prices would have remained low. Now, what a mess our Country is in!ā
Read the statement below:
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putinannounced that he would recognize the independence of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.
As NPR notes, āPutinās declaration names the regions the Luhansk Peopleās Republic and the Donetsk Peopleās Republic. Both are unrecognized territories carved out by Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas region of east Ukraine after fighting broke out there with Ukrainian government forces in 2014.ā
Putin later announced that he would send Russian troops to those regions as part of a āpeacekeepingā mission.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psakiannounced that the U.S. would āprohibit new investment, trade, and financing by U.S. persons to, from, or in the so-called DNR and LNR regions of Ukraineā in response. And Biden is expected to announce new sanctions against Russia.
After the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan, Trump offered blistering criticism of Biden over his handling of that situation, as IJR reported.