What World Leaders Were Saying on Feb. 24, 2022 - Tweets From the Past

Three years ago on Feb. 24, 2022, missiles rained down across Ukraine, gunfire was heard across major cities, and bombers were seen screeching overhead – Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine had begun.

The war has since morphed into the largest war in Europe since WWII and was met with condemnation and consternation alike. But three years into the war, a lot has changed – politicians have come and gone, and some have stayed true to their opinions, for better or worse.

For the record, here is what some of them said on that fateful day.

Former British PM Boris Johnson

Johnson served as the British prime minister between July 2019 and September 2022 and has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine during and after his tenure in office. His administration granted the use and provision of British Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine.

British PM Keir Starmer

Like his predecessor, Starmer was vocally pro-Ukrainian before assuming office. Starmer became the new prime minister after the UK general election of July 4, 2024 – but even as a leader of the Labour Party, he had met with the then-Ukrainian ambassador to the UK and paid multiple visits to Ukraine after the 2022 invasion.

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Macron and Starmer have reportedly been exploring alternatives to deploying European “boots on the ground” in Ukraine.

The day the full-scale invasion started, he issued a stern message for Russian leader Vladimir Putin: “There will be dark days ahead. But Putin will learn the same lesson as Europe’s tyrants of the last century: that the resolve of the world is harder than he imagines and the desire for liberty burns stronger than ever. The light will prevail.”

French President Emmanuel Macron

Macron is one of the most vocal supporters of Ukraine in Europe and has been a leading advocate for the creation of a European army and troop deployments to Ukraine to help deter Russia’s aggression.

“We will respond to this act of war without weakness, with composure, determination and unity,” Macron said during a Twitter update on Feb. 24, 2022.

Billionaire Elon Musk finalized his purchase of Twitter in October 2022 and later changed the platform’s name to X.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz

While Scholz has also been a vocal supporter of Ukraine, some have also criticized his lackluster military support of Kyiv due to his refusal to send Taurus long-range missiles to Ukraine and his conservative stance against deploying German troops to support future security guarantees.

That said, Germany has been one of the largest aid providers to Ukraine, ranking just below the US, according to research by the Kiel Institute – a trend that is likely to continue after the German elections on Sunday, with conservative leader Friedrich Merz, who also holds a pro-Ukrainian stance, coming on top.

On Feb. 24, 2022, Scholz issued multiple updates condemning Russia’s invasion and vowed strong responses. In one such update, Scholz said, “The Russian attack on Ukraine is a blatant violation of international law. There is no justification for it.”

German opposition leader Friedrich Merz

Merz is set to be the new German chancellor after his party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), won Sunday’s election.

Merz has been more hawkish on the Kremlin than Scholz, and he has been rallying for a united Europe – potentially without US backing – so there are expectations that he would bolster Berlin’s aid to Ukraine.

On the day of the full-scale invasion, Merz condemned Russia’s invasion but also used the hashtag #Russiacrisis to describe the invasion on multiple Twitter updates.

“It is not just a war against Ukraine, it is a war against democracy and our freedom. #Putin feels threatened by the democracy movements in #Ukraine and #Belarus, not by #NATO,” Merz said at the time.

Former US President Joe Biden

Biden, unlike his successor (also technically his predecessor) Donald Trump, has been firm in that Russia is to blame for the invasion, not Ukraine.

Though some Ukrainians have been critical of Biden’s slow aid to Ukraine while in office, Biden has been vocally pro-Ukrainian and visited wartime Ukraine on multiple occasions. Washington had also been one of the largest military backers of Ukraine under the Biden administration. 

In one tweet on Feb. 24, 2022, Biden also said, “America stands up to bullies. We stand up for freedom. That’s who we are.”

US President Donald Trump

Trump made no tweet on Feb. 24, 2022, because he was banned from Twitter at the time.

However, a day before the full-scale invasion, he did praise Putin for being “smart” by invading Ukraine “for $2 worth of sanctions.”

“I mean, he’s taking over a country for $2 worth of sanctions, I’d say that’s pretty smart. He’s taking over a country – literally a vast, vast location. A great piece of land with a lot of people, and just walking right in,” Trump said whilst addressing a crowd at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

He also blamed Biden for Russia’s invasion – not Zelensky, where he blamed both in a recent statement.

He did not blame Putin either, for that matter, claiming in the Feb. 23, 2022, speech that he knew Putin “very well” – “almost as well as he knew anybody in that room,” in fact.

To his credit, Trump did stay true to his position of defending Putin throughout the last three years.