"Donald Trump‘s latest attempt to pivot his campaign towards policy-oriented attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris saw him fall back into a familiar pattern of offering concessions to Vladimir Putin and Russia as he attempted to paint Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as pushing America towards a third world war," The Independent wrote, Paralel.Az reports.

The ex-president, who was speaking to members of the National Guard Association of the United States in Detroit, appeared to take a stance against the recent Ukrainian incursion into Russian territory near Kursk.

The gaining of ground by Ukrainian troops, which analysts have said is meant to relieve pressure for Ukrainian troops elsewhere in the theater of war, Trump argued was actually another sign that “World War 3” was closer than ever.

“Look at what’s happening in Ukraine. They’re surging into Russia. You’re going to have World War 3,” he said.

Trump made his remarks just hours after he attended a memorial service at Arlington National Cemetery for 13 US service members killed in a suicide bombing during the chaotic pullout of US troops from Afghanistan in 2021.

There, the ex-president linked Biden’s management of that withdrawal — which Trump himself had initiated under a much-accelerated timeline — to the ongoing instability around the world.

The argument is one he has made in a less concise manner before, but he explained it again Monday before the members of the Guard.

Trump further argued that the messy Afghanistan withdrawal from Kabul and the Abbey Gate attack “gave us Russia going into Ukraine. It gave us the October 7 attack in Israel”.

The ex-president’s remarks targeted his opponent and Joe Biden over the ongoing conflicts in the world and also led to him taking credit for starting no new major conflicts during his presidency.

He did not mention his provocative threat to engulf North Korea in “fire and fury” in a Twitter post, nor his administration’s brush with direct conflict against Iran (including the targeted assassination of an Iranian Revolutionary Guard leader).

Monday’s event, which was centered around presenting Trump as a pro-peace candidate, was aided by an appearance by Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii and 2020 presidential contender.

Gabbard, who has made a career for herself since leaving Congress as a critic of Democrats who regularly appears on Fox News and in other right-wing media, famously clashed with Kamala Harris onstage in 2020 during a debate over Harris’s record as a prosecutor.

The ex-congresswoman, who is a serving National Guard officer, appeared onstage to say that she would be endorsing and supporting Trump ahead of November. She added that she’d do “all that I can to send President Trump back to the White House."