President Donald Trump, who has stressed he wants the killing on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine War to stop, ripped Russia over missile strikes on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Thursday morning.
Trump took to Truth Social to share he was unhappy with the strikes and to call on Putin to stop.
“I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying. Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!” he wrote.
The strikes in Kyiv killed nine and injured over seventy more, the Associated Press reported.
The attack on Thursday morning came on the heels of Trump’s telling reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday that Russia seemed ready to move on a peace deal.
“I will say that I think Russia is ready, and a lot of people said Russia wanted to go for the whole thing, and… I think we have a deal with Russia,” he said, adding that Russia has been easier to work with than Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“We have to get a deal with Zelensky, and… I thought it might be easier to deal with Zelensky. So far, it’s been harder, but that’s okay…But I think we have a deal with both. I hope they do it,” he added.
Trump also criticized Zelensky earlier in the day for telling the reporters that Ukraine would “not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea,” as the Wall Street Journal noted. Trump took to Truth Social to say Zelensky’s statement hurts peace talks:
This statement is very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia in that Crimea was lost years ago under the auspices of President Barack Hussein Obama, and is not even a point of discussion. Nobody is asking Zelenskyy to recognize Crimea as Russian Territory but, if he wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it eleven years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired? The area also houses, for many years before “the Obama handover,” major Russian submarine bases. It’s inflammatory statements like Zelenskyy’s that makes it so difficult to settle this War. He has nothing to boast about! The situation for Ukraine is dire — He can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country. I have nothing to do with Russia, but have much to do with wanting to save, on average, five thousand Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week, who are dying for no reason whatsoever.
Last week, Trump notably said that if Russia or Ukraine made peace negotiations “very difficult,” the United States could disengage from discussions.
