Shortly before Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the launch of a military operation in Ukraine, former President Donald Trump continued to lavishly praise the leader.
During a political fundraising drive at his Mar-a-Lago country club in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump admired the Russian dictator’s strategic success.
“I mean, he’s taking over a country for $2 in sanctions,” Trump said. “I’d say that’s pretty smart. He takes over a country — literally a huge, sprawling site, a great piece of land with a lot of people, and he just walks in.”
When the Russian army began attacking Ukraine, explosions were heard in Kiev and Kharkov, cities where millions of Ukrainians live. US intelligence agencies have warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could lead to the deaths of 50,000 civilians, 25,000 Ukrainian soldiers and 10,000 Russian troops. The war between the two neighbors could also spark a massive refugee crisis across Europe.
On Tuesday, Trump made headlines by praising Putin’s decision to send troops to Ukraine to support the Russian-backed separatists in Luhansk and Donetsk provinces.
“This is genius,” he said on a radio show. “So Putin now says it’s independent – a big part of Ukraine. I said, how smart is that? And he goes in and becomes a peacekeeper. We can use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peacekeeping force I have.” “I’ve seen. There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’ll keep the peace, okay.”
As he did on Tuesday, Trump didn’t miss a beat by assuring his audience that while Putin is a “smart” leader, he could never have achieved his goals in Ukraine if Trump was still in power.
“This never would have happened, never in a million years, it never would have happened,” Trump said. “And I know him [Putin] very good. I probably know him almost as well as anyone else in this room than Doc Ronny [Jackson]†
