The Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal has blasted Donald Trump for going out of his way to condemn Ukraine even as Vladimir Putin targets civilians throughout the invasion.
Speaking to reporters during his trip to Ireland, Trump refused to accept responsibility for the global oil crisis caused by his war with Iran. Instead, he demanded that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stop targeting Russian oil refineries with drone attacks to ease pressure on fuel supplies.
“Let him go after targets, but not diesel fuel, because he’s causing a shortage of diesel,” Trump said on Sunday. “This isn’t done by the Middle East. This is done by what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine.”
The Journal’s editorial board has now savaged Trump for singling out Zelensky over his tactics in Ukraine while saying nothing about Moscow targeting a Ukrainian passenger train that same weekend.
“Go ahead, make Vladimir Putin’s day, Mr. President,” the board wrote.
There were no reports of casualties after a Russian drone strike hit a Warsaw-bound passenger train from Kyiv on Saturday. However, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt and a top adviser to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz were said to have been on another train on the same line that evening.
Trump did not comment on the attack, but instead lectured Zelensky about the “one thing” he must do to help stop the global oil crisis.
“So Russia can fire away at any and all targets in Ukraine, but Ukraine must restrain itself in retaliating in Russia. Mr. Trump is clearly worried about the price of diesel fuel, but blaming Ukraine amid Iranian and Houthi attacks on Middle East oil production and transport is political excuse-making on a grand scale,” the Journal wrote on Sunday night.
“It’s also strategically misguided as Russia and Iran help each other in their respective conflicts. Mr. Trump seems to think he can put these wars into separate boxes. Every time he does, he has adversaries in Moscow and Tehran smiling at their good luck.”
Former CIA chief David Petraeus, who was on another train at Yahodyn station at the time of the strike, described the attack to The New York Times as an act of a “truly barbaric leader trying to terrorize Ukrainian civilians.”
Ukraine has also been accused of purposely targeting Russian civilians during his drone bombardments, which Kyiv denies.
Trump has long been accused of showing too much respect and admiration for Putin throughout his political career, or of being too soft on the Russian leader.
This includes lauding the tactics that the “very savvy” Putin used before launching his all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 as “genius.”
