The attack was the deadliest on Ukraine’s capital in nearly a year.Credit…Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times
Trump to Putin: ‘Vladimir, STOP!’
Russian missile and drone strikes on Kyiv killed at least 12 people and injured 90 others yesterday. The attack prompted President Trump to express rare disapproval of Moscow.
“Vladimir, STOP!” Trump posted on social media, addressing Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin. “I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing.”
The attack came hours after Trump and his top aides had demanded that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, accept an American-designed plan that favored Russia.
Speaking in the Oval Office yesterday, Trump said that he had “no allegiance” to either side and that his only goal was to stop the war and save lives, but he did claim that Putin had made a “pretty big concession” to end the conflict. When pressed on what that concession was, Trump replied, “stopping taking the whole country.”
Crimea: Trump may acknowledge Russia’s claim to Crimea. Doing so would abandon a decade of U.S. foreign policy and set a dangerous precedent of formal American recognition for the changing of one country’s border by force by another country. In Ukraine, the very idea is a nonstarter.
Diplomacy: Europeans see the future of Ukraine as vital to their own. Officials say they are prepared to keep supporting Kyiv should the U.S. walk away from peace negotiations.