Exclusive:
Vladyslav Piatin-Ponomarenko, who spent 75 days blockaded in Mariupol filming the horrific war at just 17, hit out at Donald Trump’s comments, and praised President Zelenksy’s “leadership”
Donald Trump blaming Volodymyr Zelensky for the war in Kyiv is “like blaming the people who died in the Twin Towers for being there”, an emotional Ukrainian has claimed.
The US president has been criticised for his incendiary comments after claiming the Ukrainian leader “should never have started the war” and could have “made a deal” to avert the war. Trump was responding to comments from Zelensky, who was unhappy at being left out of the high-level talks from top diplomats from the US and Russia in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
“I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat (at the talks) I heard, ‘oh, well, we weren’t invited.’ Well, you’ve been there for three years … You should have never started it. You could have made a deal,” Trump told reporters from his Mar-a-Lago home.
Trump’s rhetoric toward Ukraine comes amid an escalating back-and-forth between the two presidents and rising tensions between Washington and much of Europe over Trump’s approach to the conflict. Trump’s harsh words for Zelensky drew criticism from leaders across the world.
19-year-old Vladyslav Piatin-Ponomarenko, who spent 75 days blockaded in Mariupol, hit out at Donald Trump’s comments and believes criticising Ukraine is “like blaming the people who died in the Twin Towers”.
He told The Mirror: “The only reason millions of Ukrainians have suffered and died is because of Russia’s invasion. Putin started this war. It is Russian soldiers committing war crimes. Every missile that hits a Ukrainian home comes from Russia. Blaming Zelensky for what Russia has done is either ignorance or deliberate disinformation. That’s like blaming the people who died in the Twin Towers for being there.
“Ukrainians stand and fight, because we will not surrender to tyranny. If Trump truly cares about civilian casualties, he should condemn Russia—the real aggressor—instead of attacking the president of a country fighting for its existence. The aggressor must be destroyed. Only then will the suffering end.”
Trump, who is trying to bring the fighting to a close on terms that Kyiv says are too favourable to Moscow, used an extended social media post on his Truth Social platform to lash out at Zelensky, and call the Ukrainian a “dictator without elections”.
“Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and ‘TRUMP,’ will never be able to settle,” Trump said of Zelensky.
Vladyslav, who is currently in the UK for the ‘War Diaries: The Unheard Voices of Ukrainian Children’ exhibition, was just 17-years-old when he filmed the horrors. He praised President Zelenskyy for his “leadership” as Ukraine “fights against a giant nation”.
He added: “Zelensky is leading Ukraine through the hardest moment in our history, while Russian forces try to wipe us off the map. A civilized nation fighting against a giant nation with no values, no morals. Fanatics. But we are standing. We have survived. That is a success. Putin sends his own people to slaughter.
“Wagner troops shoot their own soldiers. He murders people in prisons. He wanted to kill us. But Ukrainians stand and fight, because we will not surrender to tyranny. If Trump truly cares about civilian casualties, he should condemn Russia—the real aggressor—instead of attacking the president of a country fighting for its existence. The aggressor must be destroyed. Only then will the suffering end.”
An exhibition of War Diaries of Ukrainian Children is currently on display at Chatham House in London, with the exhibition aiming to tell unique stories and highlight the deep trauma of the young generation of Ukraine.
