Joe Biden, in his first interview since being elected president, said Donald Trump's pressure on Ukraine to hand over territory to Russia was “modern-day appeasement.”
This historically controversial term, used by a previous US president, refers to the failed attempt to stop the Nazis from annexing land in Europe in the 1930s.
Biden told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Trump's comments about buying Panama, Greenland and Canada had caused mistrust in Europe.
“Has any president ever said that?” Biden asked.
“That's not who we are. We are for freedom, democracy, opportunity, not confiscation.”
He also said it was a “difficult decision” to drop out of the 2024 US presidential race, four months before the election, to allow former Vice President Kamala Harris to challenge Trump.
But he added that if the move had been made earlier, as some critics had argued, “it wouldn't have mattered.”
The term “appeasement” refers to the actions of former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in the 1930s to appease Adolf Hitler, who had annexed territories in Europe, which did not prevent the outbreak of World War II.
Trump has long viewed the war in Ukraine as a waste of American taxpayer lives and money.
Early in his presidency, Trump suspended American aid to Ukraine, but later resumed it.
Last week, the two countries signed an agreement giving the United States access to Ukraine's vast mineral resources, an investment Trump says could pave the way for additional U.S. aid.
He also claimed that Crimea, the strategically important peninsula in southern Ukraine that was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, “will remain with Russia.”
Biden expressed concern about the deterioration of relations between the US and Europe under Trump, as well as whether NATO countries trust America.
“Europe could lose confidence in America's reliability and leadership,” Biden told the BBC.
The continent's leaders, he added, are asking themselves: “Can I trust the United States? Will it be on our side?”
Biden also said he was particularly troubling about the administration's proposal to allow Russia to retain some Ukrainian territory in an attempt to reach a peace deal that would end the fighting.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
