Trump Blames Ukraine for Provoking Russia: ‘Gave Putin Reason to Bomb Relentlessly’

A share of responsibility for Russia’s escalation in Ukraine was placed on Kyiv by U.S. President Donald Trump. “They gave Putin a reason to step in and bomb them relentlessly last night” (referring to the night from Thursday to Friday), Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One when asked about the impact of Ukraine’s recent drone attacks on Russian military airbases. Notably, six people lost their lives and over 80 were injured in the Russian strikes, which followed Ukrainian drone attacks that destroyed strategic bombers within Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated in a video message that those killed in Kyiv were rescuers responding to a previous attack who tragically fell victim to subsequent Russian strikes. Two deaths were reported in the city of Chernihiv (north) and one in Lutsk (northwest), near the Polish border. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Simbiha wrote on platform X that Russia retaliated for the loss of its aircraft with “attacks against civilians… Multi-story buildings were hit. Energy infrastructure suffered damages.” The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Russian forces targeted military objectives as retaliation for Ukraine’s ‘terrorist actions’ in Russia.