Trump thinks Russia’s Putin wants all of Ukraine
“The experts think that if he could get the rest of Donetsk, then he [Putin] would be happy,” Wiles said in an August interview, according to a report published Tuesday. “Donald Trump thinks he wants the whole country.”
Trump’s team has been urging Ukraine to consider giving up portions of the Donbas region, a major sticking point in negotiations, while also attempting to get Russia on board with a proposed peace plan. Moscow has yet to accept these terms, and Ukraine remains reluctant to cede any territory without U.S. security guarantees. For months, Trump has argued that Putin is determined to take all of Ukraine, signaling disagreement with advisers who believed giving up eastern Ukraine might satisfy Moscow.
A senior U.S. official echoed that view late last month as a renewed U.S. peace push began. When asked about Russia’s potential concessions, the official said it would only involve Russia accepting that it cannot conquer the entire country.
“Everyone knows Vladimir Putin wants to take the whole country,” the official said. “That has been his long-term goal. The president is very aware of that.”
Trump is not alone in this assessment. According to Vanity Fair, Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed similar concerns in October, suggesting that even a maximalist deal involving parts of the Donbas region, which Russia has struggled to seize over the past decade, would likely be insufficient to satisfy Putin.
“There are offers on the table right now to basically stop this war at its current lines of contact,” Rubio said. “Which include substantial parts of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which they’ve controlled since 2014. And the Russians continue to turn it down. And so … you do start to wonder, well, maybe what this guy wants is the entire country.”
While some U.S. officials remain hopeful that Russia might accept the 20-point peace plan being negotiated with Ukraine, the Kremlin itself has not indicated approval.
Reactions to Wiles’ comments have been swift. Some foreign policy experts and Ukraine advocates questioned assumptions that Putin would halt his campaign if Ukraine conceded only its eastern region.
“@realDonaldTrump is right. He should lead and push the Europeans to rebuild and buy American weapons for Ukraine to hold the line while bolstering NATO’s eastern front,” tweeted Hudson Institute fellow Rebeccah Heinrichs. “And crush Russia even more economically while backing European interdiction of the shadow fleet.”
The conflict has reportedly cost Moscow about 7,000 lives daily while straining its economy.
“DEAR GOD IN HEAVEN! What ‘experts’ are saying Putin would be happy with just Donetsk?” wrote Meaghan Mobbs, president of the RT Weatherman Foundation and daughter of Special Presidential Envoy Gen. Keith Kellogg, on X. “POTUS is 100% right – Putin does want the whole country. Which of his advisors are undercutting POTUS’ instincts and running their own foreign policy track on his back?”
Still, senior U.S. officials expressed optimism in a Monday briefing, saying Trump’s peace plan aims to halt further Russian advances.
“Under President Bush, Russia moves west. Under President Obama, Russia moves west. Under President Biden, Russia moves west,” one official said. “President Trump really wants to see this as an agreement that ends that for good.”
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