United States President Donald Trump has blamed Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, for starting the war with Russia, just a day after a Russian missile strike killed 35 people and injured 117 others in the city of Sumy, Ukraine.
Speaking at the White House on Monday, Trump said that millions of people had died in the Ukraine conflict because of three people — Russian President Vladimir Putin, former U.S. President Joe Biden, and Ukrainian President Zelensky.
“Millions of people dead because of three people,” Trump said. “Let’s say Putin number one, let’s say Biden who had no idea what the hell he was doing, number two, and Zelensky.”
The missile strike on Sunday was the deadliest Russian attack on civilians so far this year. Flowers and toys were placed by mourners at the site of the attack in Sumy.
Although estimates say hundreds of thousands have been killed or injured since the war began in February 2022, not millions as Trump claimed, his remarks have caused shock and concern.
The U.S. president criticised Zelensky for taking on a much stronger country. “You don’t start a war against someone 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles,” he said.
Trump added that Zelensky was “always looking to purchase missiles” and questioned his ability to lead. “When you start a war, you got to know you can win,” he added.
Trump has not had a smooth relationship with Zelensky since returning to office this year. Their meeting at the White House in February ended in tension, with Trump accusing the Ukrainian president of “gambling with World War Three” and blaming him for delaying peace talks with Russia.
Meanwhile, Trump’s government is trying to build better ties with Moscow. On Friday, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met President Putin in St Petersburg. The Kremlin said the four-hour meeting focused on possible ways to settle the war in Ukraine.
Zelensky had earlier called on Trump to visit Ukraine before making any deals with Putin.
“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 told CBS’s 60 Minutes.
Reacting to Sunday’s attack, Zelensky said it hit “right in the heart of the city on Palm Sunday,” a day many Christians consider holy.
Russia, on its part, claimed it had targeted a group of Ukrainian soldiers with two Iskander missiles, killing 60. However, it provided no evidence for the claim.
Trump, while calling the attack “terrible,” said he had heard Russia made “a mistake,” but gave no further details.
He ended by saying that his goal is to “stop the killing,” and that peace proposals would be announced soon.
