Trump blames Zelensky for Ukraine war

Thanks for following today’s live blog. Here is a wrap of all the main events: 

•  Volodymyr Zelensky has urged the US president to visit his country to better understand the devastation wrought by Russia’s invasion.
• Germany is willing to send its Taurus long-range missiles to Ukraine, its chancellor-in-waiting has said.
• Ukraine is prepared to buy 10 US-made Patriot air defence systems at a cost of $15 billion (£11.34 billion), Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
• Donald Trump has defended Vladimir Putin over Russia’s deadly attack on Sumy on Palm Sunday, saying it was a “mistake”.
• Donald Trump has questioned Volodymyr Zelensky’s competency, suggesting Ukraine started a war against an enemy “that’s 20 times” its size.
• The US president said Vladimir Putin was “not an angel” for the part he has played in Russia’s war with Ukraine but stressed the invasion would never have happened under his leadership.

You can find more of our Ukraine coverage here.

Donald Trump said Vladimir Putin was “not an angel” for the part he has played in Russia’s war with Ukraine but stressed the invasion would never have happened under his leadership. 

He told reporters in the Oval Office: “You take a look at Putin. I’m not saying anybody’s an angel. But I will tell you I went four years and it wasn’t even a question, he would never – and I told him, don’t do it, you’re not going to do it. 

And it [Ukraine] was the apple of his eye but there was no way that he would have done it.”

He continued: “That’s a war that should never have been allowed to start. Biden could have stopped it and Zelensky could have stopped it and Putin should never have started it. Everybody’s to blame.”

Donald Trump has questioned Volodymyr Zelensky’s competency, suggesting Ukraine started a war against Russia “that’s 20 times” its size.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, he said: “The mistake was letting the war happen, if Biden were competent, and if Zelensky were competent, and I don’t know that he is, we had a rough session with this guy [Zelensky].

“He just kept asking for more and more that war should have never been allowed to happen. That war, I went four years and Putin wouldn’t even bring it up. And as soon as the election was rigged, and I wasn’t here, that war started. There was no way that war should have been allowed to happen, and Biden should have stopped it.”

Asked if he spoke to the Ukrainian about his offer to purchase more Patriot missiles, he added: “Listen, when you start a war, you got to know that you can win the war, right? You don’t start a war against somebody that’s 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles.”

Ukraine has reportedly invited EU officials to visit Kyiv on May 9, the same day as Russia’s annual Victory Day parade in Moscow.  

Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said the gesture is intended to “show unity and resolve in the face of the biggest aggression in Europe”, according to Politico. 

Russia’s May 9 display marks the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945 and is often a show of the country’s military might, with large-scale armed forces parades and veterans turning out in force. 

On the battlefront, Russian attacks on the Kharkiv region of east Ukraine killed four residents on Monday, local officials said.

Moscow’s forces have gained ground in the Kharkiv region, home to Ukraine’s second largest city, which was also targeted in overnight Russian drone attacks.

The head of the region said Russian forces had shelled the town of Kupiansk, a rail hub that was captured by Russian forces in 2022 and then liberated.

Governor Oleg Synegubov said: “A 68-year-old man and a 61-year-old woman died as a result of artillery shelling,” 

He added in a social media post that a 77-year-old woman and a 52-year-old man were also killed by Russian rockets.

Vladimir Putin was “mocking” Donald Trump’s attempt to broker peace in Ukraine with a ballistic missile strike that killed dozens of people in Sumy on Palm Sunday, EU foreign ministers said. 

Radoslaw Sikorski, the Polish foreign minister, said at a meeting of his European counterparts in Luxembourg: “I hope that President Trump, the US administration, sees that the leader of Russia is mocking their goodwill, and I hope the right decisions are taken.”

Kestutis Budrys, Lithuania’s foreign minister, told reporters: “This is once again a humiliation to everyone who puts in diplomatic efforts to stop this war and achieve at least a ceasefire for negotiations to begin.”

Latvia’s foreign minister rejected Mr Trump’s suggestion that Russia had made a “mistake” when it hit the northeastern Ukrainian city, killing 34 and injuring 100 more.

“The Russians knew what they were doing,” Baiba Braze said. “There is no way they can say this was just a mistake.”

Posting on his Truth Social account, Donald Trump, the US president, said: “The War between Russia and Ukraine is Biden’s war, not mine. I just got here, and for four years during my term, had no problem in preventing it from happening. 

“President Putin, and everyone else, respected your President! I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS WAR, BUT AM WORKING DILIGENTLY TO GET THE DEATH AND DESTRUCTION TO STOP. 

“If the 2020 Presidential Election was not RIGGED, and it was, in so many ways, that horrible War would never have happened. 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. But that is the past. Now we have to get it to STOP, AND FAST. SO SAD!

An eyewitness to the Palm Sunday strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy described the moment two Iskander-M missiles struck.

 “A lot of people were very badly injured. A lot of corpses,” she said, struggling to speak.

Some 34 people were killed in the attack, including two children, according to Ukraine’s emergency services. 

People reportedly ran for cover amid burning cars and the wreckage of a trolleybus. 

The dead were covered in silver sheets as rescuers worked through the rubble in search of survivors. 

The Kremlin has warned Germany against supplying Taurus missiles to Ukraine, claiming incoming chancellor Friedrich Merz’s proposal risked escalating the three-year conflict.

The air-launched missile, jointly developed by Germany and Sweden, can reach targets up to 500 kilometres (311 miles) away.

Olaf Scholz, the outgoing chancellor, had ruled out sending them to Kyiv, but Mr Merz said on Sunday that he was open to the idea provided Germany was in agreement with its European partners.

Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, said of Merz: “He is agitating on the side of toughening his position and in favour of various steps that can – and will – inevitably lead to a further escalation of the Ukraine situation.”

He added: “Unfortunately, European capitals are really not inclined to look for ways of reaching peace talks, they are rather inclined to further provoke the continuation of the war.”

Moscow has accused Kyiv of using civilians as a “human shield” after a missile strike targeting Ukrainian army commanders on Palm Sunday killed at least 34 people.

The Russian defence ministry said its army launched two ballistic Iskander-M missiles at “the place of a meeting of command staff” in Sumy, claiming that it had killed 60 Ukrainian soldiers.

The strikes hit the centre of the northeastern city on Sunday morning, triggering outrage in Kyiv and among its allies.

Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, told reporters: “Our army hits only military and military-related targets.”

He added: “The Kyiv regime continues to use the Ukrainian population as a human shield, placing military facilities and holding events with the participation of soldiers in the centre of a densely populated city.”

Donald Trump has defended Vladimir Putin over Russia’s deadly attack on Sumy on Palm Sunday, saying it was a “mistake”.

The US president told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday evening: “I think it was terrible. And I was told they made a mistake. But I think it’s a horrible thing. I think the whole war is a horrible thing.”

Asked to clarify what he meant by a “mistake”, Mr Trump said that “they made a mistake... you’re gonna ask them” – without specifying who or what he meant.

The Sumy strike killed 34 people and injured 100 more. Ukrainian media reported that it occurred while a number of soldiers gathered for a nearby military awards ceremony.

It is the second large-scale attack to claim civilian lives in just over a week, following a deadly missile strike on Volodymyr Zelensky’s home town of Kryvyi Rih on April 4 that killed 20 people, including nine children.

The attack came two days after Mr Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff travelled to Russia to meet Putin and push for an end to the war.

A Ukrainian military commanders’ meeting was the target of a deadly Russian strike on the city of Sumy, the Kremlin has said.

The Russian defence ministry said the attack involving two Iskander-M missiles was aimed at a Ukrainian armed forces command staff meeting in northeastern Ukraine on Palm Sunday.

Yuriy Yula, a Ukrainian colonel and the deputy commander of the 26th artillery brigade, was killed in the strike, Berdychiv city council reported.

According to Ukrainian officials, some 34 were killed and a further 100 injured in the strike. Volodymyr Zelensky said 38 people remain in hospital, including nine children.

The Russian defence ministry has claimed 60 servicemen were killed in the attack, however.

The head of the European Council has condemned Russia’s attack on the city of Sumy as “criminal”.

Antonio Costa said the strike, which killed 34 people and injured 100 more in the northeastern Ukrainian city, showed Russia was enacting a “campaign of violence”.

The EU chief wrote on X: “I’m outraged by Russia’s criminal missile attack on the city centre of Sumy.

“Russia continues its campaign of violence, showing once again that this war exists and endures only because Russia chooses so.”

He called for those responsible for the strike to be held accountable and said the European Union offered its full support to the Ukrainian people. 

Ukraine is prepared to buy 10 US-made Patriot air defence systems at a cost of $15 billion (£11.34 billion), Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

The Ukrainian president told CBS he first discussed the offer with the Biden administration before raising it again with Donald Trump in the hopes the systems could provide an initial line of defence against Russian drone and missile attacks. 

Mr Zelensky said: “There is the Patriot system, and you have many of them. You also have production capacity. There are a few steps to protect Ukraine.”

He added: “That’s $15 billion. We are ready to pay it. We will find the money and pay for everything.”

The Kremlin, when asked this morning about an attack on the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy, said that Russia only strikes military or military-related targets.

Ukraine said on Sunday that two Russian ballistic missiles killed 34 people and wounded 117 in Sumy.

Hungary will not agree to any part of the European Union’s military training mission to take place inside Ukraine, as that could risk an escalation of war, the country’s foreign minister has said.

Budapest will also oppose any sanctions on Russian energy imports, Peter Szijjarto added in a press conference broadcast on his Facebook from Luxemburg after a meeting of European Union foreign ministers.

Russia has suffered a 138,000 casualties in its war against Ukraine this year, according to the a UK intelligence report. 

The report also found that Russia had lost more than 920,000 over the course of the war so far, which started in February 2022.

“Russian forces are likely attempting to rebuild frontline momentum following a period of lower attacks on the opening months of the year,” the report stated. 

Vladimir Putin will be the one to decide whether a 30-day energy ceasefire with Ukraine is extended, the Kremlin has said.

“The moratorium was essentially not observed by the Ukrainian side,” Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, claimed. “Therefore, of course, these 30 days will need to be analysed.”

Russia on Monday accused Ukraine of carrying out eight attacks on energy infrastructure in the last 24 hours, without providing evidence. 

Both sides have accused each other of breaking the US-brokered deal. 

Ukraine has struggled to recruit young soldiers, despite launching a programme dedicated to enlisting those between 18 and 24. 

Pavlo Palisa, the deputy head of Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, said less than 500 contracts had been signed as a result of the programme, which was launched in February.

Those who sign up will be given more than £18,000 up front, before taking a monthly salary of around £2,200, in addition to a 0pc mortgage, free education and healthcare.

Asked about why recruitment numbers are low, Mr Palisa said: “Sometimes parents have an influence. Somewhere, they thought that peace was about to come, and they no longer need to. There are many reasons. We are studying them to draw conclusions.”

Germany is willing to send its Taurus long-range missiles to Ukraine, its chancellor-in-waiting has said.

Friedrich Merz said Kyiv needed to “get ahead” in the conflict after dozens were killed in Russia’s Palm Sunday attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy, which he denounced as a “serious war crime”.

Asked if he would agree to Ukraine’s repeated plea for Germany’s long-range missiles, Mr Merz said he would do so if it were done in conjunction with allies, some of whom are already providing similar long-range weapons.

“Our European partners are already supplying cruise missiles,” the conservative leader said on Sunday. “The British are doing it, the French are doing it, and the Americans are doing it anyway.”

“This must be jointly agreed. And if it’s agreed, then Germany should take part,” he added.

Lithuania’s foreign minister said Vladimir Putin’s Palm Sunday missile attack was a “humiliation” for Donald Trump’s attempts to broker peace in Ukraine.

Arriving at an EU foreign affairs meeting, Kestutis Budrys told reporters: “This is once again a humiliation to everyone who puts in diplomatic efforts to stop this war and achieve at least a ceasefire for negotiations to begin.

“Putin once again is challenging everyone, and especially those who are dedicating their time for good reason.”

Mr Budrys said he would push for the European Union to agree to a 17th round of sanctions against Moscow’s economy, including targeting LNG exports, its nuclear industry and the shadow fleet of oil tankers.

On the American presidential campaign trail, Donald Trump boasted more than once that he would be able to end the war between Russia and Ukraine in “24 hours”, writes Lisa Haseldine.

Nearly three months into his second term, that clearly hasn’t happened. By March, as the scale of the challenge dawned on them, the tune coming from his administration quietly changed: meeting with delegations from Moscow and Kyiv in the Middle East, Trump’s representatives declared they were optimistic that a truce now could materialise in “weeks”.

The White House was reportedly aiming to get a peace deal signed by Easter. For Trump, a vain man with a weak spot for pomp and ceremony, the symbolism of such an achievement would be very neat indeed – and perhaps, he may have hoped, bring the Nobel peace prize he dreams of that little bit closer.

This year, the celebration of Easter coincides in both the Western and Orthodox Christian church calendars; Easter Sunday will also mark exactly three months since Trump returned to the White House. Ending the war between Russia and Ukraine in this way would clearly have been a major win for the President.

But, with less than a week to go, we already know Trump’s ambition for an Easter peace deal was little more than wishful thinking. 

Seven people were injured in a Russian drone attack on the Black Sea port of Odesa that also damaged several homes and a medical facility late on Sunday, Ukrainian authorities have said.

A 53-year-old man was injured in the Nikopol district of the Dnipropetrovsk region in heavy artillery shelling by Russia, Serhiy Lysak, governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, said on Telegram.

Germany’s prized Leopard 2 tanks are failing on the battlefield in Ukraine, according to an assessment by its defence ministry, writes Aaron Burnett.

In a classified transcript of a meeting between a German defence attache stationed in Kyiv and about 200 Bundeswehr soldiers, the diplomat revealed the difficulties Ukrainians are facing in operating the heavy weaponry.

Eighteen of the Bundeswehr’s mainstay Leopard 2 tanks made their way to Ukraine in 2023 after months of foot-dragging by Chancellor Olaf Scholz and a full-on national public debate about whether Berlin should send heavy weapons to Ukraine.

Mr Scholz finally agreed to do so after the Biden administration agreed to send Abrams tanks and public sentiment in Germany began to shift in Ukraine’s favour.

But for all the fanfare, Ukrainian soldiers are finding the Leopard 2 has limited use, says the transcript, which was obtained by three German media outlets.

Some of the problems have to do with the way warfare itself is changing.

Vladimir Putin is “mocking” Donald Trump’s goodwill by continuing to step up attacks on Ukraine, Poland’s foreign minister has said.

“Ukraine unconditionally agreed to a ceasefire over a month ago. The heinous attacks on Kryvyi Rih and on Sumy is Russia’s mocking answer,” Radoslaw Sikorski said on arrival at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Luxembourg.

“I hope that President Trump and the US administration see that the leader of Russia is mocking their goodwill and I hope the right decisions are taken.”

Overnight attacks by Russia sparked a fire at a petrol station in Zaporizhzhia, injured at least eight people and damaged houses across the southeastern part of Ukraine, regional officials have said.

No one was injured in the petrol station fire that followed a drone attack on the region, Ivan Fedorov, the governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, said in a post on Telegram. He posted a photo of large flames consuming a structure at night.

It was not immediately clear whether the petrol station in Zaporizhzhia was a target of the attack or whether the fire was sparked by falling debris from a destroyed drone.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force one last night, Donald Trump said Russia had make a “mistake” by firing two ballistic missiles at Sumy, northern Ukraine, before saying Kyiv should never have been sent military aid by Joe Biden, his predecessor.

The statement was markedly different in tone to the comments made by European leaders, including Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, who called it a war crime.

“It was a perfidious act.. and it is a serious war crime, deliberate and intended,” the conservative politician said.

Emmanuel Macron accused Russia of “blatant disregard of human lives, international law, and the diplomatic efforts of President Trump”.

Sir Keir Starmer said he was “appalled at Russia’s horrific attacks on civilians in Sumy”.

The EU’s top diplomat has called for Russia to be put under “maximum pressure” to end its war in Ukraine, a day after a missile strike on Sumy that killed 34 people.

“I think we have to put the pressure, the maximum pressure, on Russia to really end this war, because it takes two to want peace,” Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, told reporters as she arrived at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Luxembourg.

“All those who want the killing to stop should put the maximum pressure,” she said.

Volodymyr Zelensky has urged the US president to visit his country to better understand the devastation wrought by Russia’s invasion.

“Please, before any kind of decisions, any kind of forms of negotiations, come to see people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children destroyed or dead,” the Ukrainian leader said in an interview broadcast on US network CBS.

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. 

We’ll bring you the latest news and analysis throughout the day.