Trump calls Putin's invasion of Ukraine 'wonderful' and hails Russian as a 'peacekeeper'

Is anyone wondering what Donald Trump's hot take on the Ukraine-Russia crisis is?

Well as Putin recognised two territories as independent and moved troops to the Ukraine border, triggering sanctions and worried responses from the West, Russia is being a "wonderful peacekeeper", according to the former president.

In an interview with Clay Travis and Buck Sexton, the former president called Russia moving troops into Ukraine a "genius move" and called Putin "savvy".

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

“I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, ‘This is genius.’ Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine – of Ukraine. Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful,” he said.

“I said, ‘How smart is that?’ And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper,” Trump went on, before claiming that the massive Russian military buildup in Russian and Belarusian territory amounted to “the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen”.

"Here's a guy who's very savvy," he continued. "I know him very well."

But people weren't impressed with Trump's comments. Jen Psaki, White House press secretary told reporters:

“As a matter of policy we do not take advice from anybody that praises president Putin and his military strategy, which I believe is what happened there, expresses an openness to lifting sanctions about the seizing of territories in Crimea, or at any point in time told leaders at the G7 that Crimea is a part of Russia, regardless if they are a former president."

“It’s a bit of a different approach, and that’s probably why president Biden and not his predecessor was able to rally the world and the global community in taking steps against Russia’s aggression.”

Burn.

During his rambly interview, Trump also repeated his usual nonsense about "rigged elections" and falsely claimed Biden had not responded to Putin's move despite the US issuing sanctions on the country.

Time for him to retire with dignity, we think.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.