Trump blames Zelensky for Ukraine war again - sparking instant backlash over ‘dangerous’ claims

The debate surrounding the future of the war in Ukraine is continuing to escalate following Donald Trump’s return to the White House, with Europe rushing to formulate a response to the Republican’s push to strike a deal with Russian president Vladimir Putin and Trump now claiming it was Ukraine which started the conflict all the way back in February 2022.

Yes, he really did make such a claim, despite Putin being the one to start everything off by declaring Russia would be carrying out what he called a “special military operation” in the sovereign country for the purposes of “denazification” – despite Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky being Jewish.

Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday: “I think I have the power to end this war, and I think it’s going very well, but today I heard, ‘oh, we weren’t invited’. Well, you’ve been there for three years, you should have ended it three years [ago].

“You should have never started it, you could have made a deal. I could have made a deal for Ukraine, that would have given them almost all of the land … and no people would have been killed, and no city would have been demolished, and no dome would have been knocked down.”

He also claimed Zelensky has a “four per cent approval rating”, which goes against polling by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in December which revealed 52 per cent of Ukrainians trusted the president.

Trump has since been slammed for “repeating Putin’s propaganda”:

Another user pointed out to the US president that if he’s calling on Ukraine to hold an election, he should probably ask the same of Russia given Putin’s dictatorship:

And others have suggested Trump’s comments are fuelled by Zelensky not “surrendering to Putin” like “he and the entire Republican Party did”:

It's not the first time that Trump has pointed the finger of blame at the Ukrainian president for what is happening in his own country, as back in October he said Zelensky "should never have let that war start".

Zelensky has since shared footage of rescue operations being carried out in Odesa, writing on Twitter/X that people “must never forget that Russia is ruled by pathological liars” who “cannot be trusted and must be pressured”.

“Just yesterday, after the notorious meeting in Riyadh, it became clear that Russian representatives were once again lying, claiming they do not target Ukraine’s energy sector.

“Yet, almost simultaneously, they launched another attack, with drones striking electrical transformers,” he said.

Zelensky has since shared footage of rescue operations being carried out in Odesa, writing on Twitter/X that people “must never forget that Russia is ruled by pathological liars” who “cannot be trusted and must be pressured”.
“Just yesterday, after the notorious meeting in Riyadh, it became clear that Russian representatives were once again lying, claiming they do not target Ukraine’s energy sector.

“Yet, almost simultaneously, they launched another attack, with drones striking electrical transformers,” he said.

Speaking to reporters in Kyiv about Trump's remarks, Zelensky said the US president lives in a "disinformation space".

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