At least 34 people were killed and 117 injured when Russian ballistic missiles struck the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Palm Sunday, with the victims including two children
Donald Trump has been slammed for describing a horrific Russian bombing that killed dozens of Ukrainian civilians as a “mistake”.
The devastating attack left at least 34 people dead and 117 wounded after Russian ballistic missiles hit the city of Sumy on Palm Sunday, with two children among the casualties. Reacting to the incident, Trump said: “I think it was terrible, and I was told they made a mistake, but I think it’s a horrible thing. I think the whole war is a horrible thing… for that war to have started is an abuse of power.” But the president’s suggestion that Putin’s forces could have carried out the attack by mistake was branded “preposterous” by a senior Ukrainian MP, who declared: “This is genocide”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meanwhile blasted the strike as the work of “filthy scum” and called on Mr Trump to witness the situation in Ukraine firsthand. Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, Oleksandr Merezhko, Ukrainian MP and chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said: “This kind of ‘mistake’ has been continuing for more than three years.
“And you know Trump’s statement is preposterous because you know such statements only embolden Putin to continue to commit crimes against the civilian population, to continue to target civilian objects, and I don’t see a serious reaction on the part of the American president.
On Sunday, Donald Trump described the the conflict as “Biden’s war”, going on to say: “This is not my war; I’ve been here for a very short period of time. This is a war that was under Biden. He gave them billions and billions of dollars.”
Describing the war as a “shame”, he added: “Millions of people are dead that should be alive. Cities are being destroyed all over Ukraine.
“The whole culture is gone. It’s certainly very severely hurt.
“You know the chapels, the churches, the spirals, all of the things they had in Ukraine were among the most beautiful anywhere in the world. Most of them were knocked down and blown up into a million pieces.
He also attempted to link the conflict to his claims that the result of the 2020 US presidential election was manipulated in favour of Joe Biden – an allegation his team has never been able to provide evidence for.
Trump said: “Millions of people would be alive except for the fact that the election was rigged because that war would have never started and Russian President Vladimir Putin never would have started that war. I’m just trying to get it stopped so that we can save a lot of lives.
“They happen to be Ukrainian and Russian lives, but all I want to do is get it stopped. “
Speaking to CBS, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged: “We respect your position but, please, before any kind of decisions, any kind of plans for negotiations, come to see the people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children destroyed or dead.
“Come, look, and then let’s move with a plan on how to finish the war.
“You will understand with whom you have a deal. You will understand what Putin did.”