Donald Trump<\/p>\n
Russia<\/p>\n
War in Ukraine<\/p>\n
Fighting disinformation<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n Facebook<\/p>\n Tweet<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Email Link<\/p>\n \n President Donald Trump claimed Monday<\/a> that he knew why Russian troops weren\u2019t able to enter Kyiv in the days after they invaded Ukraine in 2022. Russia\u2019s tanks, Trump said, got destroyed by missiles \u201cbecause the tanks got stuck in the mud.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cYou know, they would\u2019ve been in Kyiv in four hours going down the highway. But a Russian general made a brilliant decision to go through the farmland instead,\u201d he said, sarcastically criticizing the supposed general.\n <\/p>\n \n This is fake history, as military analysts and various Ukrainians have pointed out since the president began making similar claims<\/a> months ago. In reality, Russia tried and failed to make it to Kyiv using roads and highways. Its tanks were thwarted by<\/a> fierce Ukrainian resistance<\/a> and logistical problems<\/a> in addition to muddy conditions.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cRussian forces used roads and highways as much as possible during the initial invasion, and took heavy losses on many of them. Russian tanks did get stuck in the mud during the initial invasion, but this was often after they struggled to advance along roads,\u201d said Rob Lee<\/a>, a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Research Institute\u2019s Eurasia Program who has closely followed military tactics during the war. \u201cOne of the factors that hindered Russia\u2019s invasion is that there were not many good highways and roads leading from Belarus to Kyiv, which canalized<\/a> their forces.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n When CNN asked the White House for comment, an official responding on condition of anonymity noted Thursday that Russian tanks did get stuck in mud during and even before<\/a> the invasion. The official provided links to some articles<\/a> that mentioned this happening.\n <\/p>\n \n But even one of those articles clearly contradicted Trump\u2019s claim that Russia didn\u2019t make it to Kyiv because it chose not to use highways. The article said<\/a>, \u201cThe Russians invaded using Ukraine\u2019s major highways expecting a blitzkrieg-like attack that would leverage speed and overwhelming firepower to capture the capital city of Kyiv.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Lee, emphasizing that sentence, added Friday: \u201cRussian tanks did get stuck in the mud and there may have been cases when Russian commanders chose to drive through fields, but the Russian invasion plan emphasized driving along highways to reach the key cities, including Kyiv, as fast as possible. They generally drove through fields after trying to use roads and highways.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Trump\u2019s phony narrative about the Russian invasion is only the latest in a long line of false claims from the president about the war. Among other things, Trump has this year:\n <\/p>\n Repeatedly used imaginary figures to incorrectly make it seem as if the US has provided far more aid to Ukraine than Europe has; the opposite is true.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Falsely said he was speaking \u201cin jest\u201d and being \u201csarcastic\u201d when he solemnly promised dozens of times during his 2024 campaign to immediately end the war if he was elected.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Used inaccurate numbers to understate Ukrainians\u2019 support for President Volodymyr Zelensky early in the year and overstate their support for a negotiated end to the war today.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Falsely claimed Ukraine started the war that was actually started by Russia.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Falsely claimed Zelensky admitted half of US aid money went missing, though Zelensky made no such comment.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n \n As Trump prepares to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, here\u2019s a quick fact check of these Trump claims.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump has made the claim over and over again. The US, he keeps asserting, has given Ukraine triple or more the amount of wartime aid that Europe has \u2013 $350 billion from the US compared to just $100 billion from Europe.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cBiden gave them $350 billion. Europe gave $100 billion. It should be much more than that,\u201d Trump said Monday<\/a>, adding, \u201cThey should have had equalization, but they didn\u2019t.\u201d He repeated these figures Thursday<\/a>: \u201cWe spent $350 billion \u2026They spent $100 billion.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Trump\u2019s claim is not only wrong but a reversal of reality. In fact, as numerous<\/a> fact<\/a> checks<\/a> have pointed out, Europe has done more than equalize \u2013 it has given more wartime aid to Ukraine than the US has.\n <\/p>\n \n According to figures from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German think tank that tracks<\/a> the aid data, Europe \u2013 the European Union plus individual European countries \u2013 collectively allocated about $195 billion in military, financial and humanitarian aid to Ukraine from late January 2022 through June 2025; the US allocated about $134 billion for Ukraine over the same period (all figures are at Thursday exchange rates). The gap was even bigger in aid committed to Ukraine as opposed to aid actually allocated: about $300 billion committed by Europe compared to about $139 billion committed by the US.\n <\/p>\n \n It\u2019s possible to arrive at different numbers using different methods of counting aid, but no reasonable method has corroborated Trump\u2019s \u201c$350 billion\u201d US figure. The US government inspector general overseeing the Ukraine response says<\/a> on its website that the US had appropriated about $185 billion for the Ukraine response through March 2025, including about $90 billion actually disbursed. That included funding spent in the US<\/a> for weapons and defense services or sent to countries other than Ukraine<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n When CNN asked the White House for comment on the president\u2019s $350 billion claim, the official, responding on condition of anonymity, cited the inspector general\u2019s figure \u2013 in the vicinity of $185 billion. The official also noted that the inspector general\u2019s website has pointed out<\/a> the US provided about $20 billion in loans as part of a G7 initiative.\n <\/p>\n \n That\u2019s all fair, but it doesn\u2019t get close to Trump\u2019s $350 billion figure. So how did the White House official try to get closer?\n <\/p>\n \n With some nonsensical math \u2013 that added in a whole bunch of things that are not assistance to Ukraine.\n <\/p>\n \n Specifically, the official counted more than $90 billion in inflation felt by US households after the Russian invasion of Ukraine; a $16 billion decline in US exports to Russia amid US sanctions; and more than $7 billion in increased fertilizer costs after the Russian invasion drove up prices.\n <\/p>\n \n It\u2019s obvious that none of this actually supports Trump\u2019s claim that the US has provided Ukraine with $350 billion in aid. It\u2019s particularly absurd to count the inflation experienced by Americans as US assistance to Ukraine.\n <\/p>\n \n When Trump was reminded in a Time interview<\/a> in April that he had pledged to end the war on \u201cday one,\u201d he responded, \u201cI said that figuratively, and I said that as an exaggeration,\u201d and that \u201cobviously, people know that when I said that, it was said in jest.\u201d In June, he claimed<\/a> his promise to end the war within 24 hours of returning to office \u201cwas sarcastic.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n It\u2019s often hard to determine Trump\u2019s intent behind a given statement. In this case, it isn\u2019t. An extensive body of evidence makes clear Trump\u2019s promise wasn\u2019t sarcastic, jesting or figurative. It was a solemn, direct, specific pledge.\n <\/p>\n \n CNN found 53 instances<\/a> of Trump declaring on the campaign trail, in an entirely serious tone, manner and context, that he would end the war either within 24 hours of his return to the White House or even sooner than that, as president-elect.\n <\/p>\n \n Here\u2019s a typical quote, from his 2024 debate<\/a> against then-President Joe Biden: \u201cI will have that war settled between Putin and Zelensky as president-elect before I take office on January 20. I\u2019ll have that war settled. People being killed so needlessly, so stupidly. And I will get it settled, and I\u2019ll get it settled fast before I take office.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n You can read the 52 additional examples here<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump claimed in February that Ukraine started the war, saying<\/a>, \u201cYou should\u2019ve never started it. You could\u2019ve made a deal.\u201d In reality, Russia started the war by launching its full-scale invasion in 2022<\/a> (after annexing the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014). Trump\u2019s February assertion that Ukraine started the war was publicly corrected by his former vice president Mike Pence<\/a>, plus several<\/a> Republican<\/a> lawmakers<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump used different rhetoric later in the year, saying<\/a> in April, \u201cBiden could\u2019ve stopped it, Zelensky could\u2019ve stopped it, and Putin should\u2019ve never started it.\u201d The White House official correctly noted Thursday that \u201cthe President has expressed his frustration with Putin numerous times.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n In February, during a period in which Trump was aggressively criticizing Zelensky, he claimed Zelensky was \u201cdown at 4% approval rating.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n That wasn\u2019t close to accurate<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Sixty-three percent of respondents said they approved of Zelensky<\/a> in a poll conducted in Ukraine from late November to early January, by a group of academics in partnership with a prominent Ukrainian pollster. And 57% of respondents said they trusted Zelensky<\/a> in a February poll conducted by that pollster, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.\n <\/p>\n \n Recent polling suggests Zelensky remains at a similar level of public support. A Gallup poll conducted in early July found 67% of respondents said they approved of Zelensky<\/a>, and a Kyiv International Institute of Sociology poll conducted in late July and early August found 58% of respondents said they trusted Zelensky<\/a> \u2013 down from his 2025 peak of 74% in May but in the vicinity of his figures earlier in the year and most of last year.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump claimed Monday<\/a>: \u201cI\u2019ve seen a poll coming out of Ukraine: 88% of the people would like to see a deal made. And if you go back three years, everybody was gung-ho for war.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Trump was right that Ukrainian support for a negotiated quick end to the war has soared since 2022. However, it\u2019s not \u201c88%\u201d in any public poll CNN could find. The Gallup poll in early July<\/a> found 69% of respondents supported Ukraine seeking to negotiate an end to the war as soon as possible \u2013 a new high in Gallup polling, and way up from 22% in 2022, but still far from Trump\u2019s figure.\n <\/p>\n \n When CNN asked the White House what \u201c88%\u201d poll Trump was referring to, the official said that the president\u2019s claim is corroborated by the Gallup poll \u2013 whose figure, again, is 69%. The official said, \u201cThe President is right. The overwhelming majority of Ukrainians want to see a negotiated end to the war as soon as possible, as evidenced in this Gallup poll<\/a>.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n If Trump had said \u201coverwhelming majority,\u201d his claim would have been accurate. But he said \u201c88%,\u201d which was inaccurate.\n <\/p>\n \n For context, it\u2019s also worth noting that the Gallup poll did not ask Ukrainians what kind of deal to end the war they would support; Olga Onuch<\/a>, a University of Manchester professor who conducts polling in Ukraine, noted that Gallup\u2019s finding wasn\u2019t that 69% of respondents are \u201cwilling to accept territorial concessions.\u201d The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology poll in late July and early August found widely varying levels of support<\/a> for different potential proposals, with strong opposition to ideas previously floated by Russia.\n <\/p>\n Zelensky and aid money<\/p>\n \n During his February barrage of criticism against Zelensky, Trump falsely claimed<\/a> on social media that Zelensky \u201cadmits that half of the money we sent him is \u2018MISSING.\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Zelensky never said that. Rather, in comments mischaracterized by some viral social media posts<\/a>, Zelensky took issue with inflated claims about how much US cash Ukraine had received.\n <\/p>\n \n Zelensky told the Associated Press<\/a> in February that although people talked about Ukraine getting as much as $200 billion in US aid, Ukraine had actually received about $76 billion, largely in the form of weapons. Zelensky said he didn\u2019t know where all the supposed additional money had gone and that perhaps these higher figures were correct \u201con paper,\u201d according to a translation by the news outlet Ukrainska Pravda<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n That was not a confession that half of US cash had vanished. In reality, Zelensky was saying what experts in the US and elsewhere had repeatedly<\/a> pointed out<\/a> \u2013 that a large chunk of US support for Ukraine is not in the form of money handed to the Ukrainian government.\n <\/p>\n
\n See all topics<\/p>\n
\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n