WASHINGTON — The president of Ukraine urged President Donald Trump on CBS News' "60 Minutes" on Sunday to visit Ukraine see firsthand the people and places of his country that are “destroyed or dead” ahead of further negotiations to end the war with Russia.
“We want you to come and … to see,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during the interview. "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 interview aired several hours before two Russian missiles hit the Ukrainian city of Sumy as people gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday. At least 34 people, including two children, were killed and 119 others wounded. It was the second deadly, large-scale attack in Ukraine this month — after a missile strike on Zelenskyy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih killed 20 people, including nine children, on April 4.
Russia on Monday claimed it had targeted a gathering of Ukrainian troops in Sumy, while European leaders condemned the attack as a war crime.
“Come, look and then let’s move with a plan on how to finish the war. You will understand with whom you have a deal. You will understand what [Russian President Vladimir] Putin did,” Zelenskyy said.
Asked about the Sumy attack Sunday night, Trump told reporters, “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.”
Trump clarified during an unrelated event in the Oval Office Monday that the “mistake” he had referred to was “letting the war happen” and criticized former President Joe Biden and Zelenskyy, as well as Putin.
The president broke with his previous comments of blaming Ukraine for Russia’s 2022 invasion.
“Biden could have stopped it, and Zeleskyy could have stopped it, and Putin should have never started it. Everybody’s to blame,” Trump said.
Moments later, the president took another opportunity to criticize Ukraine when asked about Zeleskyy’s offer to purchase military equipment.
“Listen, when you start a war you gotta know that you can win the war. You don’t start a war against somebody that is 20 times your size and hope that people give you some missiles,” Trump said.
During his Oval Office remarks – as well as social media posts Monday morning and Sunday evening – Trump also repeated his false claim that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged” and asserted that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if he had been president at the time.
“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!” he wrote Sunday.
Last month, Moscow and Kyiv agreed to a limited, 30-day ceasefire but the countries traded accusations over the weekend that the other had violated the U.S.-brokered deal to pause attacks on energy infrastructure.
In recent months, Ukraine has sought to ensure it is not sidelined from negotiations, after Trump announced direct talks with Russia. On Friday, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian officials including Putin to discuss ending the three-year war.
Zelenskyy in his interview with 60 Minutes said global security is at stake if peace is not brokered.
“Putin’s ultimate goal is to revive the Russian Empire and reclaim territories currently under NATO protection, and the United States being part of NATO means will be involved in any potential conflict. Considering all of this, I believe it could escalate into a world war,” he said. “There won’t be a safe place, not a safe place for anyone.”
Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, whose country holds the European Union’s rotating presidency, called the attacks “Russia’s mocking answer” to Kyiv’s agreement to a ceasefire proposed by the U.S. over a month ago.
“I hope that President Trump, the U.S. administration, see that the leader of Russia is mocking their goodwill, and I hope the right decisions are taken,” Sikorski told reporters in Luxembourg, where EU foreign ministers met.
