Trump says Putin is 'having a lot of trouble' invading Ukraine because he thought it would be a '48-hour' deal

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Trump says Putin is 'having a lot of trouble' invading Ukraine because he thought it would be a '48-hour' deal
Then-US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland.Chris McGrath/Getty Images
  • Trump said Putin was having trouble in Ukraine "because he thought it was going to be a 48-hour deal and the Ukrainians are good fighters."
  • Western officials said Russian forces were struggling, partly due to unexpectedly strong resistance from Ukraine.
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    Former President Donald Trump said Vladimir Putin was "having a lot of trouble" invading Ukraine, saying the Russian president thought it would only be a "48-hour deal."

    In a Thursday interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, Trump said the Russian invasion of Ukraine was "truly is a crime against humanity" that "has to end soon."

    "Putin is having a lot of trouble right now. He's having big big trouble because he thought it was going to be a 48-hour deal and the Ukrainians are good fighters," he told Hannity.

    It is unclear where exactly Trump got the 48-hour figure from. CIA Director Bill Burns said on Tuesday that US intelligence assessed that Putin believed his military would seize the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv within two days.

    Western officials have said that Russian forces were badly mismanaging their operation and being pushed back by unexpectedly fierce Ukrainian resistance.

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    Trump has distanced himself from Putin since Russia's invasion. He was heavily criticized for praising Putin's justification to invade Ukraine as "savvy" and "genius" on February 22, two days before Russian troops attacked Ukraine.

    In the Thursday interview, Hannity tried to set Trump up to criticize Putin multiple times during the 30-minute interview, but Trump appeared not to respond to it.

    "I think you also recognize he's evil, do you not?" Hannity said at one point. Trump did not directly respond to Hannity's question, saying instead that he made the comments about Putin's being "savvy" before the invasion.

    He also touted his relationship with Putin and repeatedly claimed that the invasion "would have never happened" if he were president. John Bolton, Trump's former national security advisor, said on Wednesday that Putin put off invading Ukraine during Trump's presidency because "Putin saw Trump doing a lot of his work for him."

    Insider's live blog of the Russian invasion is covering developments as they happen.

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