The immediate past U.S. President, Joe Biden, said his successor Donald Trump’s pressure on Ukraine to give up territory to Russia is a form of modern-day appeasement that will never satisfy Moscow.

Biden, while speaking to the BBC in what the broadcaster said was his first interview since leaving the White House, said Russian President Vladimir Putin believes Ukraine is part of what he described as “Mother Russia,” stating that anybody who thinks he’s going to stop is just foolish.

“I just don’t understand how people think that if we allow a dictator, a thug, to decide he’s going to take significant portions of land that aren’t his, that that’s going to satisfy him,” Biden said.

Since his second return to the White House on January 20, Trump has changed U.S. policy toward the war in Ukraine, pressing Kyiv to agree to a ceasefire while easing pressure on Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour in 2022.

The Republican has also said that he wants to stop the killing.

However, Biden, in the interview, expressed concern that Europe was going to lose confidence in the certainty of America and the leadership of America.

“Europe’s leaders were wondering, well, what do I do now?… Can I rely on the United States? Are they going to be there?” he said.

The former president said he was dismayed by the explosive meeting in February in the White House between Trump, his top officials, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.