Zelenskyy invites Trump to Ukraine: Come see ‘what Putin did’

  14 April 2025    Read: 361
Zelenskyy invites Trump to Ukraine: Come see ‘what Putin did’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy invited Donald Trump to visit his war-ravaged country and witness the destruction wrought by Russia, after Sunday’s ballistic missile attack that killed at least 34 people in Sumy, Politico reported.

Speaking to American news program “60 Minutes” on Sunday night, Zelenskyy was asked whether he wanted to invite the American president to Ukraine and responded: “With pleasure.”

“We want you to come,” he said, addressing Trump directly, “to come and to see.”

“You think you understand what’s going on here. OK, we respect your position … But, please, before any kind of decisions, any kind of forms of negotiations, come to see people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children destroyed or dead,” he said.

Zelenskyy’s plea aired hours after a Russian strike in the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy killed at least 34 people and wounded 117 more as they gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday. The attack, which drew condemnation from Kyiv’s allies, is one of the deadliest on Ukraine this year.

“Come, look, and then let’s — let’s move with a plan how to finish the war,” Zelenskyy said. “You will understand with whom you have a deal. You will understand what Putin did.”

The visit would not be staged with “actors,” Zelenskyy said, adding Trump could “go exactly where you want, in any city” shelled by Moscow.

The Kremlin fired two ballistic missiles at Sumy on Sunday, killing dozens of civilians who had gathered for a religious holiday. It came after another Russian missile attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih earlier this month killed at least 18 people, including nine children.

Trump, for his part, called Sunday’s strike a “horrible” accident without providing evidence to back up his claim. “I think it was terrible, and I was told they [Russia] made a mistake,” he said. “But I think it’s a horrible thing. I think the whole war is a horrible thing.”

Russia has repeatedly targeted civilian infrastructure in Ukraine over the course of its three-year full-scale invasion. Overnight, a Russian drone struck a medical facility in Odesa, injuring at least five people.

Trump’s efforts to negotiate an end to Moscow’s invasion have largely stalled, with the Kremlin quickly and repeatedly violating a 30-day, U.S.-brokered partial ceasefire, which has now expired.

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Russia last week for another meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has rejected a proposal for a full ceasefire and demanded a lengthy list of concessions from Ukraine in exchange for ending the war.

On Saturday, Trump hedged that the Ukraine-Russia talks “might be OK,” but added: “There’s a point where you need to either put up or shut up.” It is unclear whether he was referring to Russia or Ukraine.


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