China and India ‘primary funders’ of Ukraine war: Trump at UNGA
United Nations: US President Donald Trump used his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday to accuse India and China of bankrolling Russia’s war in Ukraine through oil purchases, while also repeating his claim that he personally halted a conflict between India and Pakistan.
Speaking during the General Debate of the 80th UNGA session, Trump said the two Asian giants were the “primary funders” of Moscow’s war effort. “China and India are the primary funders of the ongoing war by continuing to purchase Russian oil,” he told world leaders in an hour-long address. He also repeated his longstanding assertion that Washington had mediated a “full and immediate” ceasefire between New Delhi and Islamabad, saying he had halted Operation Sindoor.
India has consistently denied any outside involvement in the agreement with Pakistan, maintaining that the understanding on cessation of hostilities was reached through direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations of both militaries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told Parliament that no foreign leader asked India to halt the operation, while External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has underlined there was “no third-party intervention”.
Earlier, the Trump administration imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods as punishment for its oil trade with Moscow, raising overall US levies on India to 50 per cent — among the highest in the world.
India swiftly rejected the move, calling the duties “unjustified and unreasonable” and vowing to take all necessary steps to safeguard its national interests and economic security.
Trump also lashed out at European allies, accusing them of undermining efforts to isolate Moscow. “Inexcusably, even NATO countries have not cut off much Russian energy and Russian energy products,” he said. “Think of it, they’re funding the war against themselves. Who the hell ever heard of that one?”
The president warned that if Russia refused to negotiate peace, Washington was prepared to launch “a very strong round of powerful tariffs” that he believed would halt the conflict quickly. For such measures to work, however, he said European states would need to join the US.
“You’re much closer to the city. We have an ocean in between. Europe has to step it up,” Trump said. “They can’t be doing what they’re doing. They’re buying oil and gas from Russia while they’re fighting Russia. It’s embarrassing.”
He added that he would discuss the issue directly with European leaders on the sidelines of the General Assembly.
Trump presented himself as a peacemaker, claiming that within seven months of his presidency he had ended “seven unendable wars” across the globe. “They said they were unendable, you are never going to get them solved,” he said. The conflicts he listed included Cambodia and Thailand, Kosovo and Serbia, Congo and Rwanda, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, Armenia and Azerbaijan — along with India and Pakistan. “In all cases they were raging, with countless thousands of people being killed,” Trump told the Assembly, adding that no leader in history had matched such achievements. The US president’s speech also carried sharp criticism of the United Nations. He argued the world body had failed to play any role in resolving the conflicts he cited.
“It’s too bad that I had to do these things instead of the UN doing them. And sadly, in all cases, the UN did not even try to help,” Trump said. “At least for now, all they seem to do is write a really strongly worded letter and then never follow that letter up. They’re empty words, and empty words don’t solve war. The only thing that solves wars is action.”
Trump said he realised only later that the UN had been absent in every negotiation he undertook. “The UN has such tremendous potential, but it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential,” he said.
Turning again to Ukraine, Trump said the conflict should never have erupted and argued it ought to have ended within days. “Everyone thought Russia would win this war in three days, but it didn’t work out that way,” he said. “It was supposed to be just a quick little skirmish. It’s not making Russia look good. It’s making them look bad.” He added that the fighting, now in its fourth year, was killing between 5,000 and 7,000 soldiers every week on both sides. “This war would never have started if I were president. This was a war that should have never happened,” Trump said, calling it an example of “what bad leadership can do to a country.”
While repeating calls for recognition of his peace initiatives, Trump said awards were not his motivation. “Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize for each one of these achievements. But for me, the real prize will be the sons and daughters who live to grow up with their mothers and fathers because millions of people are no longer being killed in endless and inglorious wars.”
with agency inputs
