US President Donald Trump on Thursday departed from his earlier peace stance on the Russia-Ukraine war, hinting at allowing Ukraine to “fight back” and promising “interesting times ahead.” He noted that it was impossible to win a war against an “invader country” but refrained from directly calling Russia one.“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 defense, but is not allowed to play offense. There is no chance of winning! It is like that with Ukraine and Russia. 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!!!” he said in a post on Truth Social.This comes after his Alaska meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to bear any solid fruits. However, during subsequent meeting Voldomyr Zelenskyy, he did promise of a trilateral meet if “all went well”. He had also advocated for a lasting peace instead of a short-term one.Trump has, however, made it clear that no US troops would be deployed in Ukraine as part of any potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, adding that European allies were willing to put boots on Ukrainian ground as part of a security guarantee. He assured that the US was willing to help them with things.Russia remains firmly against any Western military deployment in Ukraine. Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated Moscow’s demand for veto power over security guarantees, a condition that would effectively weaken their credibility.Moscow has also demanded that it should be part of talks on Ukraine’s security guarantees saying, “To discuss security guarantees seriously without Russia is a road to nowhere.”Moreover, Russia continued its offensive against Ukraine as its missile hit an American-owned electronics factory in Mukachevo, western Ukraine, causing extensive damage and injuring at least 15 people, Ukrainian officials said, according to news outlet NPR.
