Pence denounces Trump’s claim Ukraine started war

Former Vice President Mike Pence denounced his ex-boss, President Trump, over his recent claim that Ukraine started the war with Russia, a conflict that has been ongoing for three years. 

“Mr. President, Ukraine did not ‘start’ this war. Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives. The Road to Peace must be built on the Truth,” Pence said in a Wednesday post on the social platform X, accompanied by emojis of U.S. and Ukrainian flags. 

Trump seemingly blamed Ukraine’s leadership for the war on Tuesday, saying that Zelensky “should have never started” the conflict in Eastern Europe. 

Russia started the full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022. The invasion occurred eight years after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. 

On Tuesday, Trump also reiterated that he could forge a peace agreement, a claim he repeated consistently during his 2024 White House campaign. 

“You should’ve ended it in three years. You should have never started it. You could have made a deal. I could have made a deal for Ukraine that would have given them almost all of the land, and no people would have been killed, and no city would have been demolished and not one dome would have been knocked down,” Trump said Tuesday, speaking to reporters hours after U.S. officials — national security adviser Mike Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff — met with Russian officials to kick-start talks about a peace deal. 

“But they chose not to do it that way,” Trump added. 

Zelensky told reporters on Wednesday that Trump is living in a Russian “disinformation space.”

“Unfortunately, President Trump, I have great respect for him as a leader of a nation that we have great respect for, the American people who always support us, unfortunately, lives in this disinformation space,” Zelensky said on Wednesday. 

Pence, whose relationship with Trump soured after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, also criticized Trump on Ukraine earlier this month, warning that Kyiv could be under Russian control if the U.S. abandons it. 

“Mr. President, Ukraine will only ‘be Russian someday’ if the United States abandons them to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s brutal invasion. As you just said, ’When America is Strong the World is at Peace.’ Stand Firm,” Pence wrote. 

“If Ukraine falls, it will only be a matter of time until Russia invades a NATO ally our troops will be required to defend,” he added. 

Trump doubled down on his jab at Zelensky, accusing him of taking advantage of Ukraine and saying that Zelensky has done a “terrible job” as the war-torn country’s leader. 

“Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and ‘TRUMP,’ will never be able to settle,” the president said on Truth Social.