'That war is a loser': Donald Trump blames Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy for Russia’s invasion

WASHINGTON - Former President Donald Trump , long sympathetic toward Russia President Vladimir Putin , cast blame Thursday on Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for Russia's invasion of Ukraine that was authorized by Putin.

Criticizing Zelenskyy's requests for U.S. aid to Ukraine, Trump told a podcast released Thursday: "I feel very badly for those people - but he should have never let that war start ... that war is a loser."

Trump, as he often does, also blamed President Joe Biden for the war on Ukraine, saying the American president "instigated" the war by Putin and Russia.

Supporters of Ukraine have predicted that aid to Ukraine will end if Trump reclaims the presidency, although he has said he plans to forge a settlement between Russia and Ukrain

“This should have been settled before it started,” Trump said on the PBD Podcast posted Thursday.

Trump has blamed Zelenskyy for the Russian invasion launched in February of 2022 before, telling supporters in North Carolina earlier this month that "we continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal.”

In the Thursday podcast, Trump again mocked Zelenskyy as “one of the greatest salesmen I’ve ever seen," citing his ability to get aid from the U.S. He then uttered the line: "And that doesn’t mean I don’t want to help him because I feel very badly for those people. But he should never have let that war start."

Trump and Zelenskyy met late last month .

Speaking with reporters, Zelenskyy - who has questioned whether Trump understands what Ukraine is up against - told the Republican's 2024 presidential nominee he hopes to "have more good relations" in the future. Trump responded that it "takes two to tango."

On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced a $425 million package for Ukraine. A government report says : "As of June 30, 2024, since February 2022 the U.S. Congress had appropriated more than $174.2 billion in supplemental funding for the U.S. response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'That war is a loser': Donald Trump blames Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy for Russia’s invasion