 "Trump bashes Zelenskyy as Ukraine seeks to buy Patriot air defence systems")
Russia continues to attack civilians in Ukraine — at least 35 people were killed on Sunday in a Russian airstrike in the city of Sumy.
To protect those civilians, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to buy US-made Patriot air defence systems.
For US President Donald Trump, such a purchase is a sign of Zelenskyy being a warmonger.
In an interaction with the press at the White House, Trump on Monday said that Zelenskyy is “always looking to purchase missiles”. He further went on to falsely accuse him of starting the war with Russia — not for the first time though.
Trump bashes Ukraine, defends Russia — again
In the latest display of his alignment with Vladimir Putin, Trump has bashed Zelenskyy for wanting to defend his people from Russian aerial attacks but has dismissed Russian attacks killing civilians as “mistakes”.
In response to the Russian attack in Sumy , Trump said, “I think it was terrible. And I was told they made a mistake. But I think it’s a horrible thing. They made a mistake.”
On the other hand, after Zelenskyy sought to buy —not seek in donations— US-made air defence systems, Trump said, “He’s [Zelenskyy] always looking to purchase missiles. Listen, when you start a war, you gotta know you can win a war. You don’t start a war against somebody that’s 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles.”
Separately, Trump said in a post on Truth Social that Zelenskyy “allowed” the war to start.
“President Zelenskyy and Crooked Joe Biden did an absolutely horrible job in allowing this travesty to begin. There were so many ways of preventing it from ever starting,” said Trump.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThis is not the first time that Trump has lied about the war in Ukraine and personally attacked Zelenskyy.
Trump has previously accused Zelenskyy, former US President Joe Biden, and Western military alliance Nato of starting the war with Russia.
In reality, Russia started the war on February 24, 2022, when it invaded Ukraine. Russian leader Putin announced the invasion in a special broadcast.
ALSO READ: From Russian invasion to Zelenskyy’s election, Trump rewrites Ukraine war’s history with lies
The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was the second invasion within a decade. In 2014, Russia invaded Ukraine and captured and annexed the region of Crimea. Russia continues to illegally occupy the region.
In his personal attacks on Zelenskyy, Trump called him a "dictator" running the country without elections. After such an attack, the Trump administration made covert contacts to Zelenskyy domestic rivals. Such contacts were seen as a sign of Trump seeking a regime change in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy seeks to buy 10 Patriot systems
Zelenskyy has said Ukraine wants to buy 10 US-made Patriot air defence systems.
In an interview with CBS News, Zelenskyy said Ukraine would pay for those systems and not seek them as part of a grant.
“There is the Patriot system, and you have many of them. You also have production capacity. There are a few steps to protect Ukraine. Step number one: one system costs $1.5 billion — we are ready to buy it…That’s $15 billion. We are ready to pay it. We will find the money and pay for everything,” said Zelenskyy, according to translated quotes carried by Kyiv Independent.
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