‘Russia May Still Have Invaded’: Former Top Biden Aide Pushes Back As Trump Asserts War Avoidable

WASHINGTON DC – Former US President Joe Biden’s top national security aide on Europe dismisses President Donald Trump’s recent narrative on Russia’s war in Ukraine as claims that his predecessor and the Ukrainian leadership had failed to prevent “avoidable war.”

Ambassador Michael Carpenter, who served as Senior Director for Europe at the National Security Council under the Biden White House, acknowledged in an interview with Kyiv Post’s Washington correspondent that early donations of more capabilities would have helped Ukraine perform better, but not stop the Russian invasion.

“In retrospect, it’s clear that more air defense and anti-armor capabilities [for Ukraine] would have helped in the early weeks of the war though unlikely they would have deterred the Kremlin from invading,” he said.

“Probably more importantly, the West should have threatened to fully cut off all Russian financial institutions with full-blocking sanctions. No carve-outs, no exceptions, no half-steps,” Carpenter added.

“Russia may still have invaded, but it would have faced the real possibility of an economic implosion,” he concluded.

The war in Ukraine began in 2014, when Russia seized Crimea, and Russian proxies grabbed part of eastern Ukraine. Eight years later, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion, following months of meticulous coordination and denials of any such plan.

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Trump said repeatedly on the campaign trail that he would end Russia’s war on Ukraine in “24 hours” if he were elected.

However, in the early weeks of his presidency, he grew critical of Ukraine, arguing that President Volodymyr Zelensky was responsible for the war that Moscow started three years ago.

He doubled down on his narrative early this week following Russia’s deadly attack on Sumy, decrying Zelensky, Russian leader Vladimir Putin and former President Biden’s handling of the war, saying “everybody’s to blame,” and that the war would have never started under his leadership.