President Trump said in an interview published on Tuesday that Europe was weak and its nations were “decaying,” days after the Trump administration issued a strategy paper that indicated that the United States should no longer guarantee the continent’s security.
The president’s comments, made in a wide-ranging interview with Politico, widened a dispute between Mr. Trump and his European counterparts over Europe’s future and how to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Mr. Trump said that President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who has rejected parts of a U.S. proposal for a cease-fire, would have to “get on the ball” and start “accepting things.” Mr. Zelensky’s army is losing the war, Mr. Trump said, suggesting that it was time for him to compromise in the cease-fire talks.
Mr. Trump’s intervention was published a day after the leaders of Britain, France and Germany met with Mr. Zelensky in London to show their support for Ukraine and discuss alternative cease-fire plans. Mr. Zelensky reiterated after that meeting that Ukraine would not budge from its longstanding opposition to handing over land to Russia, a requirement of Mr. Trump’s proposed peace plan.
Mr. Trump also accused Mr. Zelensky of not having read a new draft of the American peace plan. “It would be nice if he would read it,” Mr. Trump said. “You know, a lot of people are dying. So it would be really good if he’d read it.”
Several elements of the American peace plan — which was published last month, prompting alarm across Europe — echoed demands made by the Kremlin.
Mr. Trump suggested that a Russian victory would be inevitable, in part because the country is much larger than Ukraine.
Russia, he said, has the “upper hand. And they always did. They’re much bigger. They’re much stronger,” Mr. Trump said. Even though he said that he gave Ukraine a lot of credit for bravery, “At some point, size will win.”
Mr. Trump also called for elections in Ukraine, accusing the country’s leadership of “using war not to hold an election.”
“They talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it’s not a democracy anymore,” he said.
Amelia Nierenberg is a Times reporter covering international news from London.
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