Trump ramps up rhetoric on Russia-Ukraine conflict as peace talks momentum stalls

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump. Photo: AFP / Andrew Caballero-Reynolds

By Betsy Klein, CNN

US President Donald Trump appeared to offer a rationale for Ukraine to go on offence against Russia, notable rhetoric as the momentum around peace talks has stalled. 

 "It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invaders country. 

It's like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defence, but is not allowed to play offence. 

There is no chance of winning! It is like that with Ukraine and Russia," Trump said in a Truth Social post. 

He continued, "Crooked and grossly incompetent Joe Biden would not let Ukraine FIGHT BACK, only DEFEND. 

How did that work out? Regardless, this is a war that would have NEVER happened if I were President - ZERO CHANCE. Interesting times ahead!!!" Trump's rhetoric may touch a nerve in Moscow, which regards any support of Ukrainian strikes on its soil as a red line. 

During the Biden administration, it was long-standing policy that Ukraine could not launch long-range American-made missiles into Russia. 

After that changed in November 2024 - following pressure from US allies - Russia updated its nuclear doctrine, confirming that it would consider any assault on it supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack. 

Days later, it fired its new medium-range intercontinental ballistic missile, the Oreshnik, at the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro. 

Russia regularly uses Ukrainian long-range drone strikes on energy and military facilities to back up its claims the Ukrainian government is a "terrorist regime." 

Trump's provocative rhetoric also marks a dramatic turnaround for the president, who criticised Biden's decision in a December 2024 interview with TIME Magazine. 

"I disagree very vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia. 

Why are we doing that?" Trump said shortly before returning to office. 

"We're just escalating this war and making it worse. That should not have been allowed to be done. 

Now they're doing not only missiles, but they're doing other types of weapons. 

And I think that's a very big mistake, very big mistake." Trump's comments on Friday (NZ time) come as the Kremlin has openly contradicted the White House on plans for a bilateral meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, suggesting that leader-level talks are far from imminent and that Putin has yet to agree to such a meeting. 

Additionally, Russia launched a sweeping series of airstrikes on Ukraine overnight, including an attack on an American-owned manufacturing company that injured at least 15 people. 

Shortly after that Truth Social post, Trump also posted a photo of himself meeting with Putin on top of a picture taken in 1959 of then-Vice President Richard Nixon seeming to confront Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. 

The latter became a symbol of the US standing up to Soviet-era Russia pressure.

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