Trump's former advisor, Fiona Hill, said that former US President Donald Trump could not understand "the idea that Ukraine was an independent state" and believed that it "must be part of Russia."

"Trump made it very clear that he thought, you know, that Ukraine, and certainly Crimea, must be part of Russia," Hill told New York Times writer David Sanger in an upcoming book previewed by The Guardian on April 12.

"He really could not get his head around the idea that Ukraine was an independent state," she added.

According to RT, the excerpt by The Guardian does not clarify exactly if Trump was talking about Russia's centuries of sovereignty over Crimea and interests in Ukraine, or if he meant that post-soviet Ukraine was part of Russia noting that he never publicly said that Ukraine is not an independent state. 

Previous Trump statements 

Trump had previously said that if he is elected in this year's presidential elections, he vows to end the conflict in Ukraine "within 24 hours."

In September, Trump told NBC News, "I would get [Russian President Vladimir Putin] into a room. I’d get [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky into a room. Then I’d bring them together. And I’d have a deal worked out," without explaining how he would make this work this work only saying that "if I tell you exactly, I lose all my bargaining chips."

A sneak peek

In 2014, six decades following the transfer of the Russian peninsula to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in an administrative decision by Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschev, Crimea voted overwhelmingly to join the Russian Federation.

In September 2022, four former Ukrainian regions, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, Kherson, and Zaporozhye , also became part of the Russian Federation after similar referendums. 

Trump says yes to aid to Ukraine, conditions included

During a press conference with US House Speaker Mike Johnson on April 13, former US President and current elections frontrunner Donald Trump expressed not being against Congress approving more aid to Ukraine, but conditions must apply.

Asked if he approves Johnson possibly bringing an aid bill to vote, he said, “We’re thinking about making it in the form of a loan, instead of just a gift. We keep handing out gifts of billions and billions of dollars, and we’ll take a look at it.”

He also advised European allies to match the US' level of assistance to Ukraine.

This came as it was reported that Johnson is prepared to allow a $60 billion Ukraine funding bill to advance to a House vote, as Republicans continue to oppose new aid approvals for the past few months. Trump ally Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has since threatened to introduce a vote to oust Johnson.