US President Donald Trump continued to blame Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the war in Ukraine amid questions about which side is responsible for the failure to achieve the ceasefire Trump has promised to deliver.
Trump made the remarks Monday as he was answering a reporter’s question about Ukraine’s request to purchase additional Patriot missiles for its resistance to the war that started with Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour in 2022.
“He’s always looking to purchase missiles,” Trump said of Zelenskyy while meeting with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office. “Listen, when you start a war, you know that you can win the war, right? You don’t start a war against somebody that’s 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles.”
Trump subsequently broadened his critique to assert that the deaths from the war were the responsibility of three men, adding Russian President Putin and Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden. “Let’s say Putin No. 1, but let’s say Biden, who had no idea what the hell he was doing, No. 2, and Zelenskyy,” Trump said. “And all I can do is try and stop it.” Trump’s comments came after Ukraine said more than two dozen people were killed and scores injured after Russian missiles struck the city of Sumy in the country’s northeast on Sunday morning.
The latest criticism of Zelenskyy came days after Trump said in a post that “Russia has to get moving” to achieve a ceasefire. Trump’s new comments also followed a meeting between US envoy Steve Witkoff and Putin to discuss ending the war.
Asked about the attack on Sumy, Trump told reportersSunday night that “it was terrible. And I was told they made a mistake.” He didn’t elaborate and quickly shifted to blaming the war on his predecessor. “Remember this,” he said. “This is Biden’s war. I’m just trying to get it stopped so that we can save a lot of lives.” Trump also said that Biden had enabled the war by not allowing more energy development in the US. “All you had to do is lower oil prices,” Trump said. “If you lowered oil prices – Biden kept the prices so high because he made it impossible to get it.”
