The president urged Russia to ‘get transferring’ on a peace deal whereas emphasizing the devastating human toll of ‘a horrible and mindless battle.’
U.S. President Donald Trump blamed former U.S. President Joe Biden, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday for the persevering with battle in Ukraine, saying it’s not his battle and vowing as soon as once more to carry it to a swift finish.
Trump’s feedback on April 14 on a social media publish and on the Oval Workplace got here a day after Zelenskyy’s look on CBS’s “60 Minutes.” The Ukrainian chief criticized the Trump administration’s claims that Ukraine shared duty for the battle, calling them a part of an “altered actuality.”
Trump accused each Biden and Zelenskyy of doing “a completely horrible job” in permitting the battle to erupt, saying there have been “so some ways of stopping it from ever beginning.”
Talking later to reporters within the Oval Workplace, Trump mentioned that Putin additionally shared duty. “Biden may have stopped it, and Zelenskyy may have stopped it, and Putin ought to have by no means began it,” he mentioned. “All people’s responsible.”
Trump mentioned his crew is “making progress” in cease-fire efforts. Final week, his Center East envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Putin in St. Petersburg to debate a U.S.-brokered peace deal.
The assault was the newest in a collection of latest airstrikes and drone assaults which have drawn sharp condemnation from worldwide leaders.
European officers blasted the Sumy strike as additional proof of Putin’s disregard for peace talks. Finnish Overseas Minister Elina Valtonen mentioned the assault, which adopted carefully on the heels of Witkoff’s go to, “demonstrates that Russia exhibits full disregard for the peace course of.”
French Overseas Minister Jean-Noël Barrot echoed the criticism, saying Putin has no intention of agreeing to a cease-fire.
Zelenskyy, in his “60 Minutes” interview, pushed again in opposition to Trump’s earlier claims that Ukraine could have provoked the battle, saying: “There may be an aggressor and there’s a sufferer. The Russians are the aggressor, and we’re the sufferer.”
Zelenskyy additionally appealed to Trump to go to Ukraine, see the devastation for himself, and “then let’s transfer with a plan the right way to end the battle.”