Trump claims Putin invaded Ukraine to rebuild the Soviet Union, which he said was 'full of love'
- Trump speculated that Putin's invasion of Ukraine was an attempt to bring back the Soviet Union.
- "You could see it was a country where there was a lot of love," Trump said of the Soviet Union.
- Trump's remarks glossed over the mass repression and deprivation of the Soviet Union.
Former President Donald Trump speculated that Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine was a project to rebuild a Soviet empire that had been "full of love."
Trump made the remarks on Sunday in
a radio interview with the Fox News host Jeanine Pirro. He was asked about the unfolding crisis in Ukraine, which Russia invaded in late February.
"He's got a big ego," Trump said of Putin. "Again, I know him very well ... I understand he's gotten rid of a lot of his generals."
He speculated that the Russian president likely felt "cornered" and could do "unspeakable" things to make progress in the invasion, which has faced fierce Ukrainian resistance.
Trump appeared to be raising similar concerns as the US intelligence officials who have spoken of the possibility of Russia turning to chemical weapons or expanding its attacks on civilians.
Trump also speculated that Putin had likely been motivated by a desire to rebuild the Soviet Union, which included Ukraine and other now independent states in eastern Europe and Asia.
"They wanted to rebuild the Soviet Union," Trump said, adding: "That's what this is all about to a large extent. And then you say, what's the purpose of this?
"They had a country. You could see it was a country where there was a lot of love, and, you know,
we're doing it because somebody wants to make his country larger or he wants to put it back the way it was when actually it didn't work very well."
