Trump Alleges Zelensky Shares Responsibility for ‘Millions of Deaths’ in Ukraine Conflict

On Monday, the United States' President Donald Trump once again triggered controversy by insisting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has equal responsibility in starting the conflict with Russia. Trump believes the responsibility for such enormous loss of lives also extends to Russian President Vladimir Putin and United States President Joe Biden.

Trump's comments followed a devastating Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy over the weekend that left at least 35 dead. The attack, one of the bloodiest since the start of Moscow's all-out invasion in 2022, was followed by additional Russian missile strikes on Monday, Ukrainian officials said.

Let's say Putin, number one, but let's say Biden, who had no idea what the hell he was doing, number two, and Zelensky. Millions of people killed because of three people," Trump said during a meeting with El Salvador's visiting president.

He went on to say, "And all I can do is try and stop it.

Trump, the Republican front-runner for the 2024 election, maintained his criticism of Zelensky's wartime leadership, challenging his strategic acumen. "When you begin a war, you gotta know that you can win the war. You don't begin a war against someone that's 20 times your size, and then hope that people give you some missiles," he said.

While stern in his rhetoric, Trump had expressed hope about diplomatic developments, indicating that an agreement between the U.S. and Ukraine was within sight. The deal in question could reportedly provide the U.S. with a percentage of profits from Ukraine's lucrative mineral and rare earth mining activities, as recompense for military and economic aid offered by the Biden administration.

I want to end the killing, and I believe we're doing a good job at that. I believe you're going to have some very good proposals soon," Trump said.

While President Biden called the missile attack in Sumy a "mistake," he didn't provide further information. In a recent interview with CBS, Ukrainian President Zelensky invited Trump to Ukraine so he could see with his own eyes the devastation created by Russia's aggression.

Trump also vented on his Truth Social platform earlier that day to heap more blame on Biden: "Crooked Joe Biden did an absolutely horrible job in allowing this travesty to begin. There were so many ways of preventing it from ever starting. But that is the past. Now we have to get it to STOP, AND FAST. SO SAD!"