President Donald Trump has often and repeatedly asserted with confidence that, had he still been in office in 2022, Russia never would have launched its deadly and destructive ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

That frequent assertion was just confirmed as true by none other than Russian President Vladimir Putin, who echoed the sentiment that "hostilities" could have been averted if then-President Joe Biden hadn't been in charge, according to Breitbart.

This presumption appears to be based on the fact that Putin has developed a "business-like and trustworthy" relationship with Trump over the years, in comparison to the antagonistic and nearly non-existent relationship he had with Biden.

Putin claims war could have been avoided

During a joint press conference at the end of Friday's bilateral summit in Alaska between Presidents Trump and Putin, the Russian leader suggested to the gathered reporters that the war with Ukraine would likely have been avoided if his current American counterpart had been in office at the time instead of former President Biden.

"I’d like to remind you that in 2022, during the last contact with the previous administration, I tried to convince my previous American colleague the situation should not be brought to the point of no return when it would come to hostilities," a translator said as Putin spoke in Russian.

"And I said it quite directly back then that it’s a big mistake," the translator continued on behalf of the Russian president. "Today, when President Trump saying that if he was the president back then, there will be no war, and I’m quite sure that it would indeed be so. I can confirm that."

"I think that overall, me and President Trump have built a very good business-like and trustworthy contact," he added, per the translation, "and have every reason to believe that moving down this path, we can come -- and the sooner the better -- to the end of the conflict in Ukraine."

Vladimir Putin confirms that if Trump were President in 2022, there would be no war:

“When President Trump says that if he was president back then there would be no war… I can confirm that. " pic.twitter.com/KJgC02Pz4O

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) August 15, 2025

Trump said the war "would have never happened" under him

President Trump and others have often observed that Russian President Putin, after annexing Ukraine's Crimea under former President Barack Obama and fully invading Ukraine's eastern regions during Biden's presidency, made no major moves against the rival neighbor while Trump held office from early 2017 to early 2021.

Breitbart reported that Trump, during a CNN town hall event in May 2023, said of the then-year-old Russia-Ukraine conflict, "If I were president, this would have never happened, and even the Democrats admit that. Putin knew it would have never happened, and his pipeline would have never happened. A lot of things would have never happened."

Appearing to hold Biden accountable for the ravages of war, Trump added, "All those dead people, both Russian and Ukrainian … they wouldn’t be dead today, and all those cities that are blown up and disintegrated right to the ground, that wouldn’t have happened."

"This is Biden's War"

As the Russia-Ukraine war continued and the death and destruction grew worse, Trump has only become more adamant than ever that Biden bears responsibility for the tragedy, while he is working diligently to try to end it as soon as possible.

In a Truth Social post earlier this month, Trump shared some of the reported casualty numbers for both sides and lamented that there has been "a lot of unnecessary DEATH!"

The president added, "This is a War that should have never happened -- This is Biden’s War, not 'TRUMP’s.' I’m just here to see if I can stop it!"