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Donald Trump has repeated his insistence that Ukraine must take part blame for war even after Russia bombed innocent citizens (MSN)
by Mick the Ram
Following the shocking and deadly attack by the Russian military on the Ukrainian city of Sumy which killed 35 people, the US President Donald Trump has once more asserted his misinformed belief that Volodymyr Zelenskyy must take an equal share of the blame for the war.
The outrageous double ballistic missile strike, which also wounded at least 117 others, was labelled simply a “mistake” by the American leader, who said the Ukrainian president was just as much responsible for the conflict as Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden.
He remarked how the “millions of people dead” were due to the decision by Mr Zelenskyy to enter the fight saying: “When you start a war, you got to know you can win”, despite the overwhelming evidence that he continues to either ignore, or fail to comprehend, which shows that Ukraine were simply defending themselves, after the illegal full-scale invasion launched by the Russians in February 2022.
The dreadful onslaught on an area full of civilians came just over a week after a similar missile assault full of cluster munitions was carried out on Kryvyi Rih on 4 April – the home city of the Ukrainian leader – which killed 19 people, including 9 children and injured dozens more.
Mr Trump has repeatedly created friction between Mr Zelensky and himself since he returned to office this year, with the two clashing in an extraordinary heated meeting at the White House in February.
Passed off as a “mistake”
The US president was his belligerent self when answering questions on the awful attack, saying: “You don’t start a war against someone 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles!”
He excused the operation, admitting that it was “terrible” but insisting that it was just a “mistake” and had hit the wrong target, before repeating his notion that Mr Zelenskyy had to face up to his role in the ongoing conflict, for which Mr Trump vastly exaggerated the loss of life.
He claimed “Millions of people are dead because of three people,” adding: “Let’s say Putin number one, let’s say Biden who had no idea what the hell he was doing, number two, and Zelensky is number three!”
Misinformed
It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of people have been killed or injured on all sides since Russia decided to use bullying tactics and marched into “foreign” territory on 24 February 2022.
That number is as shocking as it is tragic, but it is far less than Mr Trump seems to have been informed, highlighting that he is being fed a vast amount of misinformation.
He has never publicly acknowledged that the conflict actually goes back more than a decade, to 2014, when Ukraine’s pro-Russian president was overthrown and Russia then annexed Crimea and backed insurgents in bloody fighting in eastern Ukraine.
In light of some of Mr Trump’s comments it would appear that he is under the comprehension that this was a valid move and unconnected with what has happened since.
Strategic bombing
Many believe the attack at the weekend is actually part of a Russian military strategy. The aim is to terrorize the civilian population and turn them against the Ukrainian military and government, forcing them to negotiate an agreement for peace with Moscow, crucially on Russia’s terms.
It is a tactic that countries have used against each other since the advent of air warfare in the 20th century, but there are few if any examples of terror bombing being effective in getting civilians to rebel against their government; usually, the response to such attacks is the complete opposite.
Pointing out what most people already know
In an interview before Russia’s latest attack, Mr Zelenskyy urged the US supremo to visit his country before striking a deal with Mr Putin. “Please, before any kind of decisions, any kind of forms of negotiations, come to see people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children destroyed or dead”.
Speaking after the attack on innocent people in Sumy the Ukraine President said: “People were gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday; I don’t want to engage in the altered reality that is being presented to me.
“First and foremost, we did not launch an attack” referring back to Mr Trump’s consistent claims that he (Zelenskyy) had started the war.
He also had words for the JD Vance. “It seems to me that the vice president is somehow justifying Putin’s actions; but you can’t look for something in the middle… there is an aggressor and there is a victim and the Russians are the aggressor, and we are the victim!”
“Mocking” response
Russia and Ukraine’s senior diplomats have accused each other of violating a tentative US-brokered deal to pause strikes on energy infrastructure.
The 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.
When questioned about the incident in Sumy, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia’s forces only strike military targets and accused Kyiv of using civilians as shields by holding military meetings in the city centre.
And here we go giving this mad man another platform for him to spread his propaganda