US President Donald Trump said Tuesday, March 3, that settling Russia’s war against Ukraine remains “very high” on his list of priorities, even as he launched a fresh attack on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over US military aid and weapons stockpiles.
Trump made the remarks during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House, where he was asked about the status of efforts to end the war.
“Regarding Russia and Ukraine – where is it on my priority list? Very high. I thought it would be much easier than it turned out to be,” Trump said.
He pointed to what he described as deep personal animosity between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky.
“There is tremendous hatred between President Putin and President Zelensky, tremendous hatred. I’ve seen a lot of hatred in my life, but I think this one is at the very top of the scale,” Trump said.
While expressing confidence that a settlement would eventually be reached, he said responsibility for the stalemate does not lie with only one side.
“Sometimes I blame one, sometimes I blame the other. I think it’s going to happen, but it’s high in my list,” he said.
Trump also argued that the war does not directly affect the US “because it’s very far away,” but cited what he claimed were heavy casualties.
“For the last four weeks actually 32,000 soldiers died; 32,000 and it’s been averaging 25 to 30,000 soldiers a month have been dying in that stupid war, and I’d love to see it ended,” he said, calling the conflict “the worst that there has been since World War II.”
Stockpiles and “hundreds of billions”
Earlier that morning, Trump published a post on his Truth Social platform asserting that US munitions stockpiles are strong, particularly in the “medium and upper medium grade,” which he said have “never been higher or better.”
He claimed the US has a “virtually unlimited supply” of certain categories of weapons and said wars could be fought “forever” using such reserves.
However, he acknowledged that at the highest end, supplies are “not where we want to be,” while adding that additional high-grade weaponry is stored abroad.
In the same post, Trump sharply criticized former President Joe Biden’s support for Ukraine, accusing him of transferring vast quantities of US arms without properly replenishing them.
“Sleepy Joe Biden spent all of his time, and our Country’s money, GIVING everything to P.T. Barnum (Zelensky!) of Ukraine – Hundreds of Billions of Dollars worth,” Trump wrote, alleging that high-end weapons had been given away “FREE!” and not replaced.
He insisted that he had rebuilt the US military during his first term and continues to strengthen it, declaring that the United States is “stocked, and ready to WIN, BIG!!!”
Backlash from pro-Ukraine activists
Trump’s rhetoric prompted backlash from supporters of Ukraine, including Jürgen Nauditt, managing director of NAFO, a decentralized online movement known for countering Russian propaganda.
“Ukraine has received billions in aid since 2022 to defend itself, not to ‘cheat.’ Trump is twisting this to justify his own waste in ‘Epic Fury’ – a war that’s swallowing billions while he dismisses Ukraine as a ‘show,’” Nauditt wrote on X.
He described Trump’s comparison of Zelensky to showman-politician and circus impresario P.T. Barnum as “repugnant” and argued that such language undermines Ukraine’s struggle against Russian aggression.
He accused Trump of shifting blame onto Kyiv while downplaying the scale of Russian attacks and the destruction in Ukrainian cities.
“Trump is dehumanizing an entire people who are heroically resisting in order to sell his own “strength.” This rhetoric is not only repugnant, it’s dangerous: it undermines alliances, emboldens aggressors like Putin, and betrays American values,” Nauditt wrote.