U.S. President Donald Trump has said Russia could have captured Kyiv within hours of launching its 2022 invasion of Ukraine if Russian commanders had not deviated from the main route to the Ukrainian capital.
Speaking in an interview with Axios, Trump argued that the war could have ended on its first day had Russian forces continued advancing along a major highway toward Kyiv rather than moving across muddy terrain.
“Well, I think it's amazing what's happened, actually. You have a war that should have been over very quickly,” Trump said.
Referring to the early stages of the invasion, Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces had a large column of tanks advancing toward Kyiv but that a military commander made a critical mistake.
“There's a highway, concrete, very good highway, solid as a rock, right into Kyiv. And about halfway there, he would've been there in three hours going at 51 miles an hour, which is about the max speed for a tank,” Trump said.
According to Trump, the commander chose to leave the roadway and advance through farmland despite heavy rainfall that had recently affected the area.
“And they had some general, who probably is no longer with us. He decided rather than going right into Kyiv and ending the war on the first day. I don't think anyone even knows this story, that he would go through the farmland and through the dirt in the mud. And they had a record-setting rainstorm a couple of days before, and those tanks got stuck in that mud,” he said.
Trump also highlighted the role of U.S.-supplied anti-tank weapons in Ukraine's defence, noting that Javelin missile systems provided during his previous administration were used against Russian armoured columns.
“And I gave them Javelins and they took out the tanks. I gave it before this happened,” he said.
The U.S. president further argued that Ukraine would have been unable to stop a direct advance on Kyiv had Russian forces remained on the highway.
“Had this general just gone right up the concrete highway, they would've been in Kyiv within four hours, and there wasn't a damn thing that Ukraine was going to do about it. That war would've been over in one day,” Trump said.
By Sabina Mammadli
