Donald Trump has questioned Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s competence and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia which is “20 times” its size.
The US president also said “millions of people are dead because of three people” – blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin, his White House predecessor Joe Biden, and Mr Zelenskyy, in that order.
It comes a day after 35 people, including two children, were killed by two Russian missiles that struck the northern city of Sumy as Ukrainians gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday in what was the deadliest strike on the country so far this year, according to officials.
Ukraine latest updates: Trump points finger over war
Speaking in the White House’s Oval Office during a meeting with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, Mr Trump told reporters: “If Biden were competent, and if Zelenskyy were competent, and I don’t know that he is…
“There was no way that war should never have been allowed to happen.”
He added: “Biden could have stopped it, and Zelenskyy could have stopped it, and Putin should have never started it.”
Asked about Mr Zelenskyy, Mr Trump said: “When you start a war you’ve got to know you can win the war.
“You don’t start a war against somebody that’s 20 times your size. And then hope that people give you some missiles.”
Mr Trump said he was the first to give Ukraine Javelin missiles.
Firefighters work at the site of a Russian missile strike in Sumy on Sunday. Pic: Reuters
“Millions of people are dead because of three people,” Mr Trump added.
“Let’s say Putin number one, let’s say Biden, who had no idea what the hell he was doing, number two, and Zelenskyy.
“And all I can do is try and stop it – that’s all I want to do. I want to stop the killing.
“And I think we’re doing well in that regard. I think you’ll have some very good proposals very soon.”
Mr Zelenskyy has called for a global response to the Sumy attack, in which more than 100 people were injured, saying the first strike hit university buildings while the second exploded above street level.
‘It’s a horrible thing’
Asked about the Sumy attack which is near the Russian border, Mr Trump earlier said on board Air Force One: “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.”
Russia ‘made a mistake’
When questioned about the incident, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia’s forces only strike military targets.
The strike targeted a gathering of senior military officers, according to the defence ministry in Moscow which accused Kyiv of using civilians as shields by holding military meetings in the city centre.
The ministry also claimed to have killed more than 60 troops. Russia did not provide any evidence to support its claims.
Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski, whose country currently holds the EU’s presidency, said that recent attacks are “Russia’s mocking answer” to Kyiv’s agreement to a ceasefire proposed by the US administration over a month ago.
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The attack on Sumy followed a missile strike on 4 April on Mr Zelenskyy’s home city of Kryvyi Rih that killed some 20 people, including nine children.
Russia and Ukraine’s senior diplomats have accused each other of violating a tentative US-brokered deal to pause strikes on energy infrastructure.
Ukraine has endorsed a broader US ceasefire proposal, but Russia has effectively blocked it by imposing far-reaching conditions.
Mr Putin has said he wants Ukraine to drop its ambitions to join NATO, Russia to control the entirety of the four Ukrainian regions it has claimed as its own, and the size of the Ukrainian army to be limited. He has also made clear he wants Western sanctions eased.
