US President Donald Trump blamed President Volodymyr Zelensky for starting the war with Russia, a day after a massive attack resulted in 35 deaths and 117 injuries in Ukraine.
The US president also blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the “millions of people dead” in the conflict.
“You don’t start a war against someone 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles,” he told reporters at the White House, also blaming former US President Joe Biden for the conflict.
Trump’s remarks follow worldwide condemnation of Russia’s attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Sunday, the bloodiest Russian attack on civilians this year.
Earlier, Trump described the Russian attack as a “mistake”.
“Millions of people dead because of three people,” Trump said on Monday. “Let’s say Putin is number one, let’s say Biden, who had no idea what the hell he was doing, is number two, and Zelensky.”
It is estimated that hundreds of thousands, but not “millions”, of people have been killed or injured on all sides since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022.
Speaking on Zelensky’s competence, Trump remarked that the Ukrainian leader was
“always looking to purchase missiles”.
“When you start a war, you have to know you can win,” the US president said.
Tensions between Trump and the Ukrainian leader have been high since their heated exchange at the White House in February.
In an interview prior to Russia’s current strike, Zelensky urged Trump to visit Ukraine before reaching an agreement with Putin to stop the conflict.
“Please, before any kind of decisions, any kind of forms of negotiations, come to see people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children destroyed or dead,” Zelensky said in an interview for CBS’s 60 Minutes programme.
The Russian attack on Sumy killed at least 35 people and injured 117 more.
Moscow said it fired two Iskander missiles at a gathering of Ukrainian soldiers, killing 60 of them, but provided no evidence.
Trump said he wanted to “stop the killing” and promised alternatives shortly but did not clarify.
The war dates back more than a decade, to 2014, when Ukraine’s pro-Russian president was ousted. Russia then grabbed Crimea and supported separatists in the brutal conflict in eastern Ukraine.
