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Donald Trump has questioned Volodymyr Zelensky’s competency, suggesting Ukraine started a war against Russia ‘that’s 20 times’ its size.
The US president once again sought to humiliate the Ukrainian leader during a meeting with President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador today.
Trump has, among other things, described Zelensky as a ‘dictator without elections’ who ‘has done a terrible job’.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said: ‘The mistake was letting the war happen, if [Joe] Biden were competent, and if Zelensky were competent, and I don’t know that he is, we had a rough session with this guy [Zelensky].
‘He just kept asking for more and more that war should have never been allowed to happen.
‘That war, I went four years and Putin wouldn’t even bring it up. And as soon as the election was rigged, and I wasn’t here, that war started.
‘There was no way that war should have been allowed to happen, and Biden should have stopped it.’
Trump added that ‘millions of people are dead because of three people,’ referring to the former US president Biden, Putin and Zelensky.
‘Let’s say Putin number one, let’s say Biden, who had no idea what the hell he was doing, number two, and Zelensky,’ the Republican leader said.
‘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.’
Trump stressed that the White House was ‘making progress’ in the long-sought push for a cease-fire; the president previously claimed he could end the Ukraine-Russia conflict ‘in 24 hours’.
About 67,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the four-year war against Russia, according to Lostarmour.info, which tracks death-related information like obituaries or funeral announcements.
At the beginning of this year, the United Nations said about 12,500 civilians, including 650 children, have died.
While some 95,000 people fighting in Putin’s name have been killed, an analysis by the BBC in February found.
Trump added: ‘You take a look at Putin. I’m not saying anybody’s an angel. But I will tell you I went four years and it wasn’t even a question, he would never – and I told him, don’t do it, you’re not going to do it.
‘And it [Ukraine] was the apple of his eye but there was no way that he would have done it.’
He added later: ‘That’s a war that should never have been allowed to start. Biden could have stopped it and Zelensky could have stopped it and Putin should never have started it. Everybody’s to blame.’
Trump’s comments come a day after 60 Minutes aired an interview with Zelensky in which he said Trump officials are living in an ‘altered reality’.
‘First and foremost, we did not launch an attack,’ he told CBS’ Scott Pelley, addressing Trump’s false claims that Ukraine ignited the war.
‘There is an aggressor and there is a victim. The Russians are the aggressor, and we are the victim,’ he added.
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