Former US President Donald Trump took to the airwaves on Fox News as the Russian offensive began on Wednesday night US time to argue that it "wouldn't have taken place" during his administration.
Trump phoned in to say he didn't believe that Putin "wanted to do this, initially".
"I think he wanted to do something and negotiate, and it got worse and worse, and then he saw the weakness," Trump said.
Additionally, Trump said that he believes the Russian invasion was partly prompted by the "weakness" of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.