“Crimea will remain with Russia”: Trump gave an interview to The Time in which he blamed Ukraine for starting the war

U.S. President Donald Trump States “Crimea will remain with Russia” and again blames Kyiv for starting the war.

He made this statement in an interview with The Time.

“I think the reason the war started was because they (the Ukrainian authorities – Ed.) began talking about joining NATO. Crimea will remain with Russia, and Zelensky understands that,” Trump said.

The publication writes that Trump’s plan implies that about 20% of Ukraine’s territory would remain under Russian control.

The U.S. President also believes that Ukraine will never join NATO.

“I don’t think they’ll ever be able to join NATO. From the very beginning, I believed that this was the cause of the war – when talk of joining NATO started. If that issue hadn’t been raised, there would have been a much greater chance that the war wouldn’t have started,” Trump stated.

It’s worth noting that Trump gave the interview to The Time while sitting in front of a portrait gifted to him by Vladimir Putin, painted by Russian artist Nikas Safronov. The photo of this portrait was featured as the lead image for the interview.

As a reminder, yesterday Trump said that the question of the U.S. withdrawing from negotiations in the absence of an agreement should be raised “in two weeks.”