US President Donald Trump on Sunday said Russia wants Ukraine to succeed after holding talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Florida, which marked a push toward resolving the ongoing war in Ukraine.
“Russia is going to be helping. Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed once — it sounds a little strange, but I was explaining to the President, President Putin was very generous in his failing toward Ukraine succeeding, including supplying energy, electricity, and other things at very low prices,” Trump said.
Zelenskyy displayed a restrained reaction to Trump’s remarks and refrained from elaboration during the event. His reaction to Trump’s remarks went viral as people questioned Trump’s claim, citing the damage caused by recent Russian strikes.
Trump: “Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed.” pic.twitter.com/WtsV9wLojr
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) December 28, 2025
Zelensky reacting to Trump saying:
“Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed” pic.twitter.com/8GFY4Il1sp
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) December 28, 2025
“Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed. Trump actually said this. This might be one of the stupidest things he’s ever said and a true Hall of Fame entry,” a user wrote. A second user wrote, “This and Zelenskyy’s facial expression and body language tells us everything we need to know about where this is.”
This came after Trump said he had a “very productive call” with Russian President Vladimir Putin before his scheduled meeting with Zelenskyy at his Mar-a-Lago estate. “I just had a good and very productive telephone call with President Putin of Russia prior to my meeting, at 1:00 P.M. today, with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine,” he said on Truth Social.
