Former President Joe Biden bashed President Donald Trump‘s policy on the Russia-Ukraine war, accusing him of appeasement and conducting himself in a way that is “beneath America.”
Biden sat down with the BBC for his first interview this week since leaving the White House in January and was asked about his successor’s handling of various matters.
Biden slammed the Trump administration’s suggestion that Ukraine will have to concede land in a peace deal with Russia. He called it “modern-day appeasement” and warned that “Europe is going to lose confidence in the certainty of America and the leadership of America.”
“I just don’t understand how people think that if we allow a dictator, a thug, to decide he’s going to take significant portions of land that aren’t his, that that’s going to satisfy him. I don’t quite understand,” Biden said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During his time in the White House, Biden was a strong supporter of Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia in February 2022. He provided the country with significant weapons and support. Trump has been more critical of Ukraine and the United States’s support of the country in the war, which he says would not have started if he was reelected. Trump has opened a dialogue between Russia and Ukraine as he seeks an end to the conflict.
Biden denounced Trump’s conduct in a tense February Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which resulted in Trump booting Zelensky from the White House.
“I found it sort of beneath America in the way that took place,” Biden said.
Trump and Zelensky met again at Pope Francis’s funeral in Vatican City, a meeting that both sides said went well. Weeks later, the U.S. and Ukraine signed a minerals deal, which was expected to be signed at the February meeting, tying the countries closer together.
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When asked about the beginning of the second Trump administration, Biden said he did not think his successor had made any “triumphant” achievements.
“I’ll let history judge that,” Biden said. “I don’t see anything that was triumphant.”