Jan 3, 2023
Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba has praised former President Donald Trump for selling Ukraine “the first American weapons.”
Trump did approve the sale of Javelin missiles to Ukraine in late 2017, while the country’s military continued to fight pro-Russia separatists years after the outbreak of war in February 2014. Some considered the move risky at the time due to fears of provoking Moscow.
The former president has given mixed signals about his stance on the U.S. providing aid to Ukraine during its current direct military conflict with Russia, both criticizing President Joe Biden for aiding Ukraine and suggesting that Kyiv should receive more aid.
During an interview published by Ukraine’s New Voice on Wednesday, Kuleba expressed optimism that Trump would continue U.S. aid to Ukraine if he wins back the White House in November, saying that he “is a person you can work with, you just need to be able to work with him.”
“Who sold the first American weapons to Ukraine? President Trump – Javelins,” Kuleba said. “Who started the program of free transfer of the first naval vessels, Island and Mark-6 type boats to Ukraine? Trump. Who fought Nord Stream 2 and sanctioned the famous but now forgotten Russia’s Fortuna vessel that laid this pipeline? It was Trump.”
“Despite all the stories written by various magazines that there will be a big deal between Putin and Trump … [it is] impossible,” he added. “There won’t be any big deals between Putin and anyone … There are a lot of ‘ifs,’ but Ukraine should not fear anything, no elections and no current or future politicians.”
Kuleba conceded that dealing with Trump would “be completely different” than dealing with the Biden administration, while stressing that Ukraine was “extremely grateful for everything” the current president has done.
Continue reading at www.newsweek.com
Also read: Can Trump be a solution?
We remind our readers that publication of articles on our site does not mean that we agree with what is written. Our policy is to publish anything which we consider of interest, so as to assist our readers in forming their opinions. Sometimes we even publish articles with which we totally disagree, since we believe it is important for our readers to be informed on as wide a spectrum of views as possible.
