Putin Echoes Trump's Claim That Conflict in Ukraine Could Have Been Avoided

In a surprising alignment of views, Russian President Vladimir Putin has publicly supported Donald Trump's long-standing assertion that the Ukraine conflict could have been prevented through different diplomatic approaches. During a marathon press conference in Moscow, Putin stated "The former U.S. president correctly identified the missed opportunities for peace in 2022" while blaming NATO expansion and Western interference for escalating tensions. The remarks have ignited fierce debate among foreign policy experts, with some seeing it as validation of Trump's "America First" doctrine and others warning it represents dangerous revisionism of the war's causes. Secretary of State Antony Blinken quickly dismissed the claims as "Kremlin propaganda," while Trump campaign officials touted the comments as proof of their candidate's superior geopolitical instincts. Ukrainian officials expressed outrage, with President Zelensky's office releasing a statement calling the remarks "a deliberate distortion of history that insults Ukraine's sovereignty." The unusual Putin-Trump rhetorical alignment comes as recent polls show American voters increasingly divided over continued military aid to Ukraine, with some conservative lawmakers seizing on the comments to push for reduced funding. Historians note this represents the first time a sitting Russian leader has explicitly endorsed a U.S. presidential candidate's foreign policy stance since the Cold War, raising fresh concerns about election interference as the 2024 campaign intensifies.