Maybe we were too quick to judge Vladimir Putin. Sure, he invaded Ukraine and has been engaged in a brutal and destructive war against the country that’s destroyed much of its infrastructure, seen countless atrocities committed by his troops, and has killed somewhere between 400,000 and 1.5 million people, but apparently this is just tough love. Yup, according to noted brain genius Donald Trump, Putin actually, secretly, no-kidding, has Ukraine’s best interests in mind and simply wants what’s best for it. The disturbing comments came as Trump continues to try to broker a peace between the two nations, albeit a peace that’ll put a big grin on Putin’s face. Trump was asked if he’d spoken to Putin about the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine: Trump: "Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed. It sounds a little strange but President Putin was very generous in his feeling toward Ukraine succeeding”WTF pic.twitter.com/NAdxixwY2t— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) December 28, 2025 “They’re gonna be helping. Russia’s gonna be helping. Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed. It sounds a little strange, but I was explaining to the President, uh, President Putin was very generous in his feeling toward Ukraine succeeding, including supplying energy, electricity and other things at very low prices.” Well, if Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed, they’ve got a funny way of showing it. Just a few days ago, Russia launched 600 drones and over 50 ballistic and cruise missiles at Kyiv in an attempt to obliterate energy and civilian infrastructure. What is “success”? But, to be fair, we’re sure Putin really does want to see Ukraine succeed. But his “success” will be the territory being seized by Russian forces, anti-Russian politicians strung up from lamp-posts, widespread pillaging by Russian troops, and the western border being converted into a military staging point to directly threaten Europe. Trump insists the peace deal is nearly “95% done” and recently said “I really think we are closer than ever with both sides” and that Putin is eager to “see it happen”. The key to this is convincing Ukraine to cede the Donbas region to Russia, allowing Putin to walk away with a hard-won victory while Zelenskyy can argue he’s preserved the Ukrainian nation. But this is kicking the can down the road. Will Russia really be happy with just the Donbas, or after eating one slice of the Ukrainian pizza, will they be back for the rest of the pie in a few years? But by then, Trump and Putin could both be in the ground. So, who knows?