He seems to think it is a Russian-Ukrainian War

Here's a readout of the phone call Trump had with NATO's polticial chief Stoltenberg:

Readout of the President's Call with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg pic.twitter.com/wlWrJhu5gF — Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) February 6, 2017

What is that bit about the "conflict along the Ukrainian border"? That's an odd way of phrasing it.

But hey, so it's clumsy phrasing this one time. Probably doesn't mean anything.

Except here is the reporting on Trump's call with Ukraine's president Poroshenko:

President Trump on Saturday pledged to "restore peace" along the border between Russia and Ukraine, according to the White House. The White House said in a statement that Trump had a "very good call" with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Saturday afternoon addressing "a variety of topics, including Ukraine's long-running conflict with Russia." "We will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border," Trump said, according to a readout of the call.

Yupp, I kidd you not. Trump apparently believes Ukraine's civil war is actually a Russian-Ukrainian war along Ukraine's border.

Of course it's actually a war between Kiev's post-coup government and the Russian-speaking rebels in the east. Ie, a war between Ukrainians.

Russia which had always insisted the two sides should talk it out for the sake of Ukraine intervened in the war by supplying the rebels to prevent the stronger, government side from imposing its will on the other militarily, but it is not actually fighting itself.

Trump can be in favor of a peaceful resolution all he wants but if he doesn't understand that Russia is not a belligerent in that war it will be very hard for him to actually contribute to it.

What's more if we believe the Associated Press Trump's team seems to think there is a similar border conflict between Poland and Belarus (??):