Yesterday's statement by US President Donald Trump that Russia's war in Ukraine is his predecessor Joe Biden's, not his, is a central topic in the world press, BTA writes.
While the deadly Russian strike on the center of the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Sunday was condemned by much of the world, Trump rewrote the history of the war in Ukraine with accusations that make historians jump, writes the French newspaper "Midi Libre".
Russia said yesterday that it had struck a meeting place of Ukrainian military commanders in Sumy and is continuing its strikes in the region. The Russian Defense Ministry said the military fired "two Iskander-M tactical missiles at the meeting site" on Sunday. of a command structure designated by Moscow as an operational-tactical group of the Ukrainian armed forces, the French publication points out.
"Our military strikes are aimed exclusively at military and quasi-military targets", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday, quoted by "Midi Libre", commenting on the strike, in which, according to the latest data, 35 people died, including two children, and 119 were injured.
The Russian Ministry of Defense accuses Ukraine of using civilians as human shields by deploying military facilities and organizing events with the participation of military personnel in the centers of settlements, the French newspaper notes.
"They tell me they made a mistake", Donald Trump said for his part, without directly accusing Moscow. Instead, he chose to attack his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, shifting the responsibility for the war onto the president of the country that has been the target of a Russian invasion, the publication emphasizes.
"He keeps trying to get missiles. Listen, when you start a war, you have to be aware that you are capable of winning it. You don't start a war against someone when they are 20 times bigger than you and then hope that people will supply you with missiles," Trump said, quoted by "Midi Libre".
The American president continued with accusations, placing the responsibility for the war on three people - Putin, Biden and Zelensky, notes another French newspaper - "Parimet".
"Let's say we have Putin in first place. But let's also say that Biden, who had no idea what he was doing, is number two. And then we have Zelensky," Trump said, emphasizing that he was "trying to stop" this war, this publication notes.
In his evening video address, Zelensky reminded that "Ukraine never wanted this war for a second," and emphasized his desire to achieve "lasting peace." This seems like an indirect response to Trump's statement, notes the French newspaper "Le Monde."
"Ukraine continues to work constructively with its partners in all formats that can bring security and restore peace," Zelensky emphasized, quoted by "Le Monde."
"When the war is over, the world will see it clearly: this will have happened because Russia, the aggressor country, was forced to make peace. "The same aggressor that entered Ukrainian territory in 2014, 11 years ago," the Ukrainian president said, referring to the annexation of the Crimean peninsula.
Trump's statement that the attack on Tsvetnitsa was a "mistake" is Russian propaganda, said influential Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Merezhko, quoted by the "Independent" newspaper. He called on the FBI to investigate who is spreading Russian propaganda in the White House, the British publication notes.
"This is like saying that (the 2001 attack in New York on) September 11 was "just a mistake" of "Al Qaeda", emphasized the chairman of the Ukrainian parliamentary committee on foreign affairs.
"A very worrying statement by Trump, which both encourages Putin to continue with the atrocities and shows that someone in Trump's entourage is spreading Russian allegations," added Merezhko, quoted by "The Independent".
Zelensky, in turn, invited Trump to Ukraine to "come and see" the devastation, the American newspaper "Washington Post" indicates.
US Vice President J.D. Vance has accused the Ukrainian head of state of taking foreign leaders on "propaganda tours," recalls the American publication. But the Ukrainian president says he wants to show Trump the real situation, "Washington Post" notes.