Donald Trump justifies Putin's Ukraine invasion: 'Took over vast land for $2 sanctions'

Doubling down on his 'praise' for Russian President Vladimir Putin, ex-US President Donald Trump on Thursday, highlighted how Putin had 'taken over a vast piece of land for $2 worth sanctions'. Addressing an event at his Florid-based resort 'Mar-a-Lago', Trump - a builder by profession - said that Putin was smart to invade Ukraine, dismissing the global sanctions currently levied on Russia. Currently, Ukraine's deputy defense minister said that Russian troops wearing Ukrainian uniforms were able to seize Ukrainian military vehicles and are now heading towards Kyiv.

Trump justifies Russian invasion of Ukraine

"Trump said Putin is smart. He's taken over a country for $2 worth of sanctions. I'd say that's pretty smart. It is a vast, vast location, a piece of land with lot of people and just walking right in. This would never have happened - never in a million years. I know him (Putin) very well," he said.

Earlier in the day, as Russian troops marched into Donbas, Trump said in a TV interview, "This is genius. Putin declares a big portion of Ukraine as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful. He is going to go in and be a peacekeeper. That is the strongest peace force. We could use that on our southern border."

Sanctions on Russia

In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Union has announced 'maximum impact' sanctions on Russia targetting the country's financial, energy and transport sectors, visa policy, exports among other areas. US has levied sanctions on Russian banks, limited international trade with Moscow, froze assets of Putin's inner circle. While US has refused to step foot into Ukraine, it has sent over 12,000 people to Europe. Similar sanctions have been levied on Belarus for aiding Russian troops to attack Ukraine. Australia, Germany, Taiwan, France, Germany, EU, Japan have also levied financial, trade, diplomatic sanctions on Russia. UN Security Council will now vote on the global sanctioning of Russia for its attack which has killed 137 civilians and military personnel since Thursday.

Russia invades Ukraine

For weeks, Moscow massed over 150,000 troops on Ukraine's borders in a bid to pressurise Western nations to not allow Ukraine to join NATO, threatening an invasion. On Thursday, Putin ordered a special military operation in Ukraine's Donbas region, which quickly accelerated into precision airstrikes on Kyiv, Kharkiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, deployed tanks towards Lviv from the Belarus-Ukraine border. The Russian Navy is attacking from the shores of Mariupol and Odessa and troops have taken over Chernobyl nuclear plant, heading towards Kyiv.

While NATO forces are assembling in Ukraine's neighbouring nations, Putin has warned foreign powers of 'consequences as never seen before' if they intervene in the Ukraine conflict. With Zelenskyy ordering martial law and full Army mobilisation, over 100,000 Ukrainians have fled while many nationals including Indians are stuck in Ukraine airspaces were shut down. Russia has already annexed Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula in 2014 and recently recognised two rebel regions of Ukraine (Luhansk and Donetsk) as independent.