Putin is bombing, Trump’s angry at media, and Zelensky denounces" />

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who left Alaska empowered by his US counterpart’s red-carpet reception, calling him “your excellency,” and bowing to his demands, continues to bomb civilian targets across Ukraine, while calmly speaking to leaders globally to brief them on this victorious meeting with Trump.

In the meantime, Trump tries to salvage the little he can from what all news outlets have called a defeat, a failure and a flop. “I am totally convinced that if Russia raised their hands and said, ‘We give up, we concede, we surrender, we will GIVE Ukraine and the great United States of America [sic] Moscow and St. Petersburg, and everything surrounding them for a thousand miles, the Fake News Media and their Democrat Partners would say that this was a bad and humiliating day for Donald J. Trump,” he ranted on Truth Social.

“I’ve settled six Wars in six months, one of them a possible Nuclear disaster, and yet I have to read and listen to the Wall Street Journal, and many other who truly don’t have a clue, tell me everything that I am doing wrong on the Russia/Ukraine MESS,” he said in a separate post. “ I’m only here to stop it, not to prosecute it any further.” He called all his critics “STUPID” people, with no common sense, intelligence, or understanding, and they only make the current R/U disaster more difficult to FIX.”

Trump makes yet another U-turn

But the facts are evident. He’s stopped nothing, as Russia keeps pounding on Ukraine. He came out of a meeting with Putin, where he was charmed into making a complete U-turn. He entered that meeting demanding a ceasefire and would “not be happy if it’s not today”, while threatening “severe consequences” if a truce was not agreed, he now wants Zelensky to give up Crimea and Donbass and all hope to join NATO.

But not everybody believes Trump failed. US Senate Majority Leader John Thune on X said that “President Trump should be commended for his dogged determination to bring peace to Ukraine and for his courage to engage with all parties in a way his predecessor refused to do.”

Over 950,000 Russian soldiers who Putin likely views as expendable because they are not the children of Moscow and St. Petersburg elites, have been killed and wounded since the war began, the Centre for Strategies and International Studies (CSIS) said. Ukrainian fatality rates so far have been between 400,000 casualties, a high number of which are civilians, the CSIS added.

Today, August 18, Zelensky posted photos of Russian attacks occurring on the day of his meeting with Trump.

“This was an absolutely revealing and cynical Russian strike,” Zelensky said. “They know that today in Washington, there is a meeting to end the war. And it is at this very moment that the Russians are striking at Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Sumy region, Odessa, residential buildings, and our civilian infrastructure.”

He added: “This is the deliberate murder of people by the Russians, the murder of children. As of now, seven people are known to have died as a result of the drone strike on Kharkiv, the youngest is a one-and-a-half-year-old girl, and dozens of people are injured, including children. In Zaporizhia, 20 people are known to have been injured and three people killed as a result of missile strikes on the city.”

He concluded by saying Putin is putting on this show to undermine efforts at the White House and said that Russia should not be rewarded for their war on Ukraine.The war has caused nearly 1.5 million casualties on both sides of the conflict, making it the largest conflict in Europe since World War II | Credit: @ZelenskyyUa/ShutterstockRussia is no longer only targeting military objectives, it has consistently been bombing residential areas | Credit: @ZelenskyyUa/Shutterstock