(WASHINGTON) — After a devastating missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy appeared to have killed dozens of civilians gathered for Palm Sunday celebrations, President Donald Trump downplayed the incident as a “mistake” — and lashed out with recriminations.
He continued to insist that the broader war was started by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and that President Joe Biden failed to stop it — rather than blaming Russian President for causing the conflict.
“The mistake was letting the war happen,” Trump said, when asked to clarify his initial comments at the White House on Monday.
“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 continued, asserting again that Putin wouldn’t have dared invade Ukraine when he was in power.
“It was the apple of his eye, but there was no way that he would have done it,” Trump said of Putin.
But as the months of Trump’s second term continue to pass, the president’s repeated claims that he has significant sway over Putin seem to be falling flat. His administration has so far failed to draw any meaningful concessions from the Kremlin as part of its efforts to end the war.
Trump, who has been faulted for failing to put any real pressure on Russia as he angles for a peace deal, again attacked Zelenskyy more harshly than Putin.
“You don’t start a war with someone 20 times your size and then hope people give you some missiles,” he said of the Ukrainian leader.
“You have millions of people dead, millions of people dead because of three people,” Trump went on. “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. And all I can do is try and stop it.”
Zelenskyy responded to the comments during a Monday evening address, saying “Russian state propagandists are preparing their audience for the idea that diplomacy will not bring any results.”
“If there is not strong enough pressure on Russia, they will keep doing what they are used to — they will keep waging war,” he said.
While Trump did not seize on the Sumy attack as an opening to ramp up diplomatic pressure on Russia, other corners of his administration and some of his political allies were more outspoken in the aftermath.
Retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s Special Presidential Envoy for Ukraine, said the strike “crosses any line of decency.”
“There are scores of civilian dead and wounded. As a former military leader, I understand targeting and this is wrong,” he said in a post on X.
In his own social media post, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham called the attack “barbaric” and said it “seems to be Putin’s answer to efforts to achieve a ceasefire and peace.”
Graham also referenced proposed legislation aimed at imposing more economic penalties against Russia, saying it would be necessary “unless there is dramatic change soon.”
The attack on Sumy comes just ten days after a Russian strike on the Ukrainian city Kryvyi Rih killed 20 people, including nine children.
It also comes at an inauspicious time for the Trump administration, which deployed its top negotiator, U.S. Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff, to hold his third round of face-to-face talks with Putin approximately 48 hours before the strike.
Video emerged of a smiling Witkoff holding his hand over his heart as he greeted Putin. The Kremlin praised the meeting as “extremely useful,” but has so far shown little interest in moving toward a broader settlement in Ukraine.
Last month, the White House announced that both Ukraine and Russia agreed to temporary limited ceasefires covering strikes on energy infrastructure and naval targets in the Black Sea.
Kyiv has accused Moscow of violating the energy deal several times however, and Russia has balked at fully committing to the Black Sea deal — saying the U.S. and its allies must meet a long list of conditions before it would.
While the Kremlin’s recent attacks on civilians in Ukraine might not push Trump to turn up the heat on Russia, there are signs that his frustration over the slow clip of the diplomatic process underway might be building.
“Russia has to get moving,” Trump said in a post to his Truth Social site on Friday ahead of Witkoff and Putin’s meeting.
At the White House on Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked whether Russia had agreed anything with Witkoff.
“What I can tell you is that they were — a productive conversation was had,” she said. “He believes that Russia wants to end this war, and the president believes that as well. There is incentive for Russia to end this war. And perhaps that could be economic partnerships with the United States. But we need to see a ceasefire first. And the president and the presidential envoy, Witkoff, made that very clear to the Russians.”
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