Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump offers to ‘settle’ invasion as Biden calls Putin ‘war criminal’ at debate

Donald Trump has offered to “settle the war” in Ukraine started by Vladimir Putin as he suggested Russia would have never attacked its smaller neighbour if the US had a “real president” in the office.

“Before I take office on 20 January, I’ll have that war settled,” he said at the first presidential debate with Joe Biden.

However, Mr Biden called Mr Putin a “war criminal” and warned that if Russia is allowed to succeed, the Russian president would not stop at Kyiv. “He wants all of Ukraine. That’s what he wants,” Mr Biden said. “He’s killed thousands and thousands of people,” the US president said.

Mr Putin was repeatedly referenced by both US presidential candidates during Thursday’s election debate as they vied to show who was tougher on foreign policy. “Go ahead, let Putin go in and control Ukraine, and then move on to Poland and other places. See what happens then. He has no idea what the hell he’s talking about,” Mr Biden said of Mr Trump.

This comes as Ukraine’s military said its forces had forced Russian troops out of a district in the town of Chasiv Yar on the war’s eastern front seen as Moscow’s next target in its slow advance through the area.

The Kremlin said that Russia is considering a possible downgrading of diplomatic relations with the West due to the deeper involvement of the United States and its allies in the Ukraine war, though no decision has yet been made.

“The issue of lowering the level of diplomatic relations is a standard practice for states that face unfriendly or hostile manifestations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the possibility of such a move.

“Due to the growing involvement of the West in the conflict over Ukraine, the Russian Federation cannot but