Ukraine War Updates: Trump Criticizes Putin, Russia Responds to Child Deportation Report
WASHINGTON/KOSTIANTYNIVKA, Ukraine – In a notable shift in tone, former US President Donald Trump publicly criticized Vladimir Putin on Thursday, accusing the Russian leader of letting him down and hindering potential peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. The remarks came during a joint press conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, marking the culmination of a two-day state visit intended, in part, to isolate Putin on the world stage. Trump stated he had hoped to broker a peace deal shortly after entering office, but Putin’s actions prevented it. “He’s killing many people, and he’s losing more people than he’s killing. The Russian soldiers are being killed at a higher rate than the Ukrainian soldiers,” Trump said.
Meanwhile, fighting continues in eastern Ukraine. A Russian airstrike on the donetsk region town of Kostiantynivka on Thursday resulted in five deaths, according to Ukrainian police.The town, located approximately 8km from the front line, is largely surrounded by Russian forces. Kyiv has responded with long-range strikes targeting Russia’s oil sector, with a thursday morning attack causing a fire at a refinery in the central Bashkortostan region, roughly 1,400km from the front. Putin stated that over 700,000 Russian soldiers are currently deployed along the Ukrainian front line.
Further, russia has dismissed a report detailing the alleged forced re-education of deported Ukrainian children. Yale’s school of Public Health identified more than 210 sites across Russia and occupied Ukraine – including camps, schools, and military bases – where Ukrainian children are reportedly undergoing military training, drone manufacturing instruction, and other forms of forced re-education as part of a large-scale deportation program. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova labeled the report as fabricated and based on questionable data. Ukraine maintains that Russia has illegally deported or forcibly displaced over 19,500 children to Russia and Belarus, violating the Geneva Conventions.
In a somber progress, Ukraine received the remains of 1,000 bodies from russia, identified by Moscow as deceased Ukrainian soldiers. Ukrainian officials stated that efforts to identify the remains are underway.
