Trump slams massive US aid to Ukraine amid nation's own problems

Former US President Donald Trump has criticized the Democratic administration of President Joe Biden for providing the massive levels of assistance to Ukraine, while the American nation has too many problems of its own.

Speaking at a summit in Florida on Saturday, Trump said that Washington has “so far given more than $60 billion to Ukraine.”

The United States has too many problems of its own to hand money and weapons to Kiev for its war with Russia, said the former president.

The war in Ukraine began on February 24, after President Putin ordered a military campaign "to demilitarize" and "de-Nazify" Ukraine and to “liberate” Donbas, composed of two breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Since the onset of the operation, the United States and its European allies have supplied billions of dollars worth of weaponry to Ukraine and imposed waves of unprecedented sanctions on Moscow, despite Russia’s repeated warning that such a Western flood of weapons will only prolong the war.

Washington, most recently, shipped rocket launchers to Ukraine as part of a $450 million military assistance package announced last month.

US to send four more rocket launchers to Ukraine

The US says it will send four additional high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) to Ukraine.

It has spent $8 billion on military aid to Kiev since the start of the Russia's military campaign on Feb. 24.

Trump also doubted whether even the massive levels of the military aid would change the situation on the ground in Ukraine.

“Now, it’s much tougher to solve,” he said about the military conflict, which has now dragged on for five months.

“Russia has 35 times the fire power,” said the former president. “And they’re looking to obliterate the weapons as we send them in. A lot of bad things are happening.”

“Well, the European countries, who are obviously far more affected than us, have given a tiny fraction of that number,” he added.

Trump said, under the Biden administration, the US “has gone from the strongest that it has ever been… to perhaps the weakest, especially when you include recognition and respect from all around the world.”

“We’re not respected any longer by anybody,” said Trump.

“Two years ago we were energy independent… Now we are a beggar nation, with Biden down on his knees pleading for energy from all over the globe; going to Venezuela, Saudi Arabia. Going to countries all over the world, asking for help,” Trump said, referring to his successor’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia.

Biden came under fire for breaking a campaign promised to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah.”

Biden, who argued that the visit to the kingdom was necessary — given Saudi Arabia’s influence in the global oil market — returned without getting firm assurances from Arab allies to boost crude supplies.

Biden's controversial trip to Saudi Arabia sparked criticism from analysts. Some say Biden was only pursuing the policies of his Republican predecessor in West Asia.

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