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President Donald Trump has
blamed his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine for starting the war with
Russia – a day after a massive Russian attack killed 35 people and injured 117
others in Ukraine.
The US president said the
Ukrainian leader shared the blame with Russian President Vladimir Putin for millions
of people dead in the Ukraine war.
Trump's comments come after
widespread outrage over Russia's attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy which was
the deadliest Russian attack on civilians this year.
Asked about the attack
earlier, Trump said it was terrible and that he had been told Russia had made a
mistake, but did not elaborate.
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 24th
February 2022.
Questioning Zelensky's
competence, Trump remarked that the Ukrainian leader was always looking to
purchase missiles.
Trump has repeatedly clashed
with Zelensky since he returned to office this year, and has previously
appeared to blame Ukraine for starting the war.
Tensions between the pair have
been high ever since their heated confrontation at the White House in February.
During that meeting, Trump
accused Zelensky of gambling with World War Three and chided him for not
starting peace talks with Russia earlier.
By contrast, the US president
has made efforts to improve relations with Moscow.
After talks between US and
Russian officials failed to produce a ceasefire in Ukraine, Trump said he was very
angry with Putin, though he added he had a good relationship with the Russian
leader.
US envoy Steve Witkoff met
Putin in St Petersburg on Friday.
Witkoff said the meeting -
which had included two of Putin's advisers - had lasted close to five hours and
had been compelling.
In an interview before
Russia's latest attack, Zelensky had urged Trump to visit Ukraine before
striking a deal with Putin to end the war.
Russia's attack on Sumy that
killed at least 35 people struck right in the heart of the city on Palm Sunday,
Zelensky said at the time.
Moscow said it had fired two
Iskander missiles at a meeting of Ukrainian soldiers, killing 60 of them, but
did not provide any evidence.
Trump insisted he wanted to stop
the killing and signaled there would be proposals soon, but did not elaborate.
The conflict in Ukraine goes
back more than a decade, to 2014, when Kyiv's pro-Russian president was
overthrown. Russia then annexed Crimea and backed insurgents in bloody fighting
in eastern Ukraine.