Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has invited Donald Trump to visit his country ahead of any deal with Russia to end the war.
“Please, before any kind of decisions, any kind of forms of negotiations, come to see people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children destroyed or dead,” Zelensky said in an interview for CBS’s 60 Minutes programme.
The interview was recorded before Sunday’s devastating Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy, which killed 34 people – including two children – and injured 117 others.
Trump described the attack as a “horrible thing” while Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, accused Russia of committing a war crime.
There was no immediate official comment on the attack from Russia, whose forces across the nearby border are said to be preparing for a major offensive.
The attack comes as the US, Ukraine’s strongest military ally, has been pursuing an end to the war – now in its fourth year – through negotiation under Trump.
Asked about the attack, the US president said it was “terrible” and that he had been “told they made a mistake”, but did not elaborate.
Earlier, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, retired Lt-Gen Keith Kellogg, said the attack had crossed “any line of decency”.
Merz, who is expected to take over as Germany’s new chancellor next month, told German public broadcaster ARD that the attack on Sumy constituted a “serious war crime”.
“It was a perfidious act. and it is a serious war crime, deliberate and intended,” the conservative politician said.
Credit:bbc
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