'Putin would have gotten all of Ukraine if I hadn't won election,' Trump claims

United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin would have gotten all of Ukraine if he hadn't won the election.

In an interview with ABC News' Terry Moran, Trump said that when former US President Joe Biden got involved in the Ukraine war, it wasn't good.

Responding to a question over leveraging peace between Russia and Ukraine, rump said, "If it weren't for me, I think he'd want to take over the whole country, personally. I always felt -- so when I left, there wasn't even a chance that this would happen. When Biden got involved, I won't say whether or not he handled it properly, but obviously it wasn't good, because the war started."


"Putin went in. The war started. I believe that Putin wanted to get all of Ukraine once he went in. And I think part of the reason he went in is he saw what happened in Afghanistan, how incompetent -- how incompetently Milley and all these guys handled that. It was one of the greatest embarrassments of -- of our lifetimes but maybe in the history of our country. Okay. So Putin went in. I think Putin wanted all of Ukraine. I think if I didn't win the election, he would have gotten all of Ukraine. I think he would have taken all of Ukraine," he added.

Trump also said that Putin's first choice -- never with him. Ukraine was the apple of his eye. He further stated that he thinks Putin wanted the whole country.

Responding to a question over whether Vladimir Putin wants peace, Trump said, "I think he does, yes. I think he does--
I think because of me --I think he really -- his -- his -- his dream was to take over the whole country. I think because of me, he's not gonna do that."