WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, (Xinhua/GNA) — U.S. President Donald Trump, who took the oath of office Monday, did not directly mention the conflict in
Ukraine during his inauguration speech, which was delivered on the same day Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his country’s willingness to
engage with the new U.S. administration over the conflict.
“We have a government that has given unlimited funding to the defense of foreign borders, but refuses to defend American voters, or, more
importantly, its own people,” Trump said in what was seemingly a veiled reference to the preceding Joe Biden administration’s policy of supporting
Ukraine militarily “as long as it takes” for Kiev to emerge victorious in the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
“We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars we end and most importantly, the wars we never get into,” said
Trump, who used to repeatedly claim that the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which broke out in February 2022, would never have happened in the first place
if he were the U.S. president then.
In the wake of Trump’s speech, analyses emerged in U.S. media, pondering why Trump appeared to deliberately refrain from mentioning Ukraine by name,
given that he boasted before that he would quickly bring an end to the conflict after taking office. Trump recently said a meeting between him and Putin
was being arranged.
According to a statement from the Kremlin, Putin said during a meeting Monday with members of Russia’s Security Council, that Moscow has never
rejected dialogue, and has always been open to cooperation with any U.S. administration.
The Russian leader also used the occasion to congratulate Trump on taking office.
GNA