Trump condemns Putin as two killed in Russian strikes on Ukraine
Donald Trump has hit out at Russian President Vladimir Putin for comments he made about the leader of Ukraine.
The US president was speaking after Russian drones hit a military hospital, shopping centre and apartment blocks in Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv, killing two people and wounding dozens.
In an interview with NBC News, he referenced comments Putin made on Friday about temporarily putting Ukraine under external governance.
Trump said he was “angry, pissed off” when the Russian leader “started getting into Zelensky’s credibility”.
Putin reaffirmed his claim that Volodymyr Zelensky, whose presidential term expired last year, lacks the legitimacy to sign a peace deal. Under Ukraine’s constitution it is illegal for the country to hold national elections while it is under martial law.
“If a deal isn’t made, and if I think it was Russia’s fault, I’m going to put secondary sanctions on Russia,” Trump said, adding that there would be “a 25 to 50-point tariff on all oil”.
“Anybody buying oil from Russia will not be able to sell their product, any product, not just oil, into the United States.”
Nonetheless, he reiterated that he and Putin have a “very good relationship”.
Ukraine’s General Staff had earlier denounced the “deliberate, targeted shelling” of the military hospital late on Saturday. Among the casualties were service members who were undergoing treatment, it said.
Regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said those killed were a 67-year-old man and a 70-year-old woman.
Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia fired 111 exploding drones and decoys in the latest wave of attacks overnight into Sunday. It said 65 were intercepted and another 35 were lost, having probably been electronically jammed.
Zelensky said on Sunday that over the past week “most regions of Ukraine” had come under Russian attack.
Writing on X, he said “1,310 Russian guided aerial bombs, over 1,000 attack drones — mostly ‘Shaheds’ — and nine missiles of various types, including ballistic ones” had been launched against Ukraine.
He repeated his assertion that “Russia is dragging out the war”, echoing comments he made on Thursday that Russia is prolonging ceasefire talks “just to buy time and then try to grab more land”.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its air defence systems had shot down six Ukrainian drones, and that its troops had taken control of a village in Ukraine’s partly occupied Donetsk region.
According to Ukrainian government and military analysts, Russian forces are preparing to launch a fresh military offensive in the coming weeks to maximise pressure on Kyiv and strengthen the Kremlin’s negotiating position in ceasefire talks.
By Associated Press Reporters