Donald Trump’s description of the Russian attack on Sumy as a “mistake” is “preposterous”, a senior Ukrainian MP has said - insisting: “This is genocide”. At least 34 people were killed and 117 injured when Russian ballistic missiles struck the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Palm Sunday, with the victims including two children.

Mr Trump reacted to the attack by saying: "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... for that war to have started is an abuse of power." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack as an act of “filthy scum” and urged Mr Trump to visit his country. Speaking to Radio 4's Today programme, Oleksandr Merezhko, Ukrainian MP and chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said: "This kind of mistake has been continuing for more than three years.

"And you know Trump's statement is preposterous because you know such statements only embolden Putin to continue to commit crimes against the civilian population, to continue to target civilian objects, and I don't see a serious reaction on the part of the American president.

"To me, it's absolutely unacceptable. Before, when Trump was asked about Russian atrocities, he said something like, 'it's a war, you know', implying that it's something natural.

"But it's not natural. These are serious crimes. It's a genocide committed by Russia against the Ukrainian people.”

Speaking on Sunday, Mr Trump added: "This is Biden's war. This is not my war; I've been here for a very short period of time. This is a war that was under Biden. He gave them billions and billions of dollars.

"That war is a shame. Millions of people are dead that should be alive. Cities are being destroyed all over Ukraine. The whole culture is gone. It's certainly very severely hurt."

"You know the chapels, the churches, the spirals, all of the things they had in Ukraine were among the most beautiful anywhere in the world. Most of them were knocked down and blown up into a million pieces.

Referring once again to discredited claims that the 2020 US Presidential election was rigged, Mr Trump added: "Millions of people would be alive except for the fact that the election was rigged because that war would have never started and Russian President Vladimir Putin never would have started that war.

"I'm just trying to get it stopped so that we can save a lot of lives. They happen to be Ukrainian and Russian lives, but all I want to do is get it stopped."

Mr Trump in Ukraine so he could "understand what's going on here."

Speaking to CBS, Mr Zelensky said: "We respect your position but, please, before any kind of decisions, any kind of plans for negotiations, come to see the people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children destroyed or dead."

"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 Putin did."

"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... for that war to have started is an abuse of power."

There were fresh attacks on Odesa on Sunday night.

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