United States President Donald Trump blamed Ukraine for its war with Russia, which is nearing its third anniversary, adding that Kyiv should have struck a deal before the war erupted in 2022.
Donald Trump Blames Zelensky For Russia Ukraine War
United States President Donald Trump blamed Ukraine for its war with Russia, which is nearing its third anniversary, adding that Kyiv should have struck a deal before the war erupted in 2022. During a press conference held at his Florida residence, Trump said that the war should never have started and that Kyiv “could have made a deal.”
However, Kyiv was excluded from the meeting held in Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said that the country would not accept the outcome of the war since it did not participate in the talks. Dismissing Ukraine’s reservation over not being included in the talks, Donald Trump said, “Today I heard, ‘Oh, well, we weren’t invited.’ Well, you been there for three years. You should have ended it three years…You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”
Trump said, “Russia wants to do something. They want to stop the barbarianism that’s going on over there.
Soldiers are being killed by thousands on a weekly basis… Apart from Russian and Ukrainian soldiers, a lot of Koreans have been killed… We want to end it. It’s a senseless war. It should have never happened.”
Ukraine ‘not being sidelined’
US’ Secretary of State Marco Rubio also dismissed the narrative that Ukraine is being sidelined and said that the country will be consulted. During the meeting, Russia’s foreign affairs minister Sergey Lavrov said that an issue non-negotiable for the country was Ukraine’s inclusion in NATO, adding that it poses major security threats.
“We explained that the deployment of troops from the countries that are NATO members, even if they are deployed under the EU or national flags, will not change anything and will certainly be unacceptable for us,” Lavrov said. Through the talks, US and Russia and also eyeing to strengthen their strained diplomatic ties as the two parties discussed restraining staff at their respective embassies.
