Trump and the war: what he said, what he did

Ending the war “in 24 hours”, calling Zelensky a dictator, red carpet for Putin, then sanctions on Russian oil. The record of Donald Trump and Ukraine, in his own words and actions.

Background Last checked 22 October 2026. Sources at the end.

Before the war: the 2019 phone call

On 25 July 2019 President Trump asked Ukraine’s new president Zelensky in a phone call to “do us a favor”: open an investigation into Joe Biden and his son. At the same time the White House was holding back about $391 million of military aid that Congress had approved for Ukraine’s fight against Russia in the Donbas. The aid was released in September, after it became public. The House of Representatives impeached Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress; the Senate acquitted him.

“In 24 hours”

During the 2024 campaign Trump said again and again that he would end the war “in 24 hours”, even before taking office. CNN counted more than 50 times. In April 2025 he said he had been “a little bit sarcastic”.

2025: pressure on Kyiv

  • 19 February: Trump calls Zelensky “a Dictator without Elections” on his platform Truth Social. Ukraine’s constitution forbids elections under martial law, which has been in force since Russia invaded.
  • 28 February: in the Oval Office, Trump and Vice President Vance berate Zelensky in front of the cameras. Days later the US pauses military aid and intelligence sharing.
  • 11 March: in Jeddah, Ukraine accepts a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire. The US resumes aid and intelligence. Russia does not accept the ceasefire.
  • 30 April: the US and Ukraine sign a deal on Ukraine’s minerals.

2025: the summit, then sanctions

  • 15 August: Trump receives Putin with a red carpet at a US air base in Anchorage, Alaska: the first visit by Putin to a Western country since the invasion. The meeting ends without a ceasefire and without questions from reporters. Analysts call it a symbolic victory for Putin, who gave nothing away.
  • 22 October: the US Treasury puts sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, Russia’s two largest oil companies, citing “Russia’s lack of serious commitment to the peace process”. It is the first big US sanction of Trump’s second term against Russia.
  • November: a US 28-point peace plan leaks. It would make Ukraine hand over the parts of Donetsk and Luhansk it still holds, cap its army and give up NATO membership. Europeans call it close to Moscow’s demands and write counter-proposals; US, Ukrainian and European officials negotiate in Geneva.

2026: distracted, then tougher

  • January–February: US envoys bring Ukraine and Russia to the table in Abu Dhabi for the first three-way talks. No deal.
  • 28 February: the US and Israel go to war with Iran. The war drains US stocks of Patriot air-defence missiles, the interceptors Ukraine relies on; by July Ukraine cannot stop Russian ballistic missiles hitting Kyiv.
  • 18 September: Trump signs the Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, passed by large majorities in both houses of Congress: sanctions on Putin himself, Russian banks and the shadow fleet, and tariffs of up to 100% on the countries that buy the most Russian oil and gas. The tariffs are not automatic; the president decides.
  • October: his envoys Witkoff and Kushner meet Zelensky in Oslo and Putin in St. Petersburg.

What it means

Trump’s line has swung between blaming the victim and pressuring the aggressor. What has stayed the same is that he treats the war as a deal to be closed, not as an invasion to be reversed. For Ukraine and Europe that leaves one lesson, and it is the reason NATO allies agreed in 2025 to spend far more on defence: Europe cannot count on Washington alone. Read NATO: myths and facts and the latest episodes of The Rest Is Politics on the front page.

Sources

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