Trump now claiming credit for weapons used ‘so well’ by Ukrainians

Former president has repeatedly made false claim that Obama administration sent Ukraine blankets instead of military aid

In an interview with Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, Donald Trump took credit for the effectiveness of the Ukrainian response to the Russian invasion, claiming it could be chalked up to the weapons his administration sent to the country.

Speaking over the phone to Ms Bartiromo, who is one of his most devoted sympathisers on the Fox roster, Mr Trump – who declined to criticise Vladimir Putin directly even when prompted – claimed that it was American supplies that led to Russia coming up short in its assault.

“Russia has gotten in deeper than they ever thought possible,” Mr Trump said, “to a certain extent because of the weapons that I gave and that the Ukrainians used so well.

“I mean they use so well, amazing. So I think Russia is, something could be done with them right now, because they’re not looking so good.”

Asked by Ms Bartiromo what that “something” might be, Mr Trump replied it was time to “work out a deal” and that Russia needs to “stop killing these people”.

Many Republicans have repeated over the years the claim that the Obama administration failed to adequately arm Ukraine, griping that it only sent blankets, pillows and sheets to a country that faced a hard military threat.

This is not the case. The Obama administration did not provide lethal hardware to Ukraine, but it did commit more than $200m in security assistance and military equipment to its European ally after the Russian military helped foment an insurgency in the country’s east and mounted a takeover of the Crimean peninsula.

Mr Trump, meanwhile, was impeached for allegedly holding up almost $400m in military aid in order to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – who is now hiding from potential assassination while leading the resistance to the Russian invasion – into investigating the Biden family’s supposed Ukrainian connections.

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