Donald Trump has claimed that ‘millions are dead’ in Ukraine ‘because of three people’.

The US President has yet again pointed the finger at Volodymyr Zelenskyy following their heated confrontation in the Oval Office back in February.

During the interaction, Trump, alongside Vice President JD Vance, accused the Ukrainian President of ‘gambling with world war three’ without support from the US.

In his Washington office yesterday (14 April), Trump was in a meeting with El Salvador’s leader when he told reporters that Zelenskyy was not ‘competent’.

Also taking a swipe at former POTUS Joe Biden, who was in office when the war first began, he said: “If Biden were competent, and if Zelenskyy were competent, and I don’t know that he is. There was no way that war should never have been allowed to happen.”

But he wasn’t finished there, as he then took aim at Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, adding: “Biden could have stopped it, and Zelenskyy could have stopped it, and Putin should have never started it.”

When asked about Zelenskyy, Trump said: “When you start a war you’ve got to know you can win the war. You don’t start a war against somebody that’s 20 times your size.

“And then hope that people give you some missiles.”

“Millions of people are dead because of three people,” he continued.

Donald Trump has blamed the war in Ukraine on ‘three people’, including Vladimir Putin (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

“Let’s say Putin number one, let’s say Biden, who had no idea what the hell he was doing, number two, and Zelenskyy. And all I can do is try and stop it – that’s all I want to do. I want to stop the killing.

“And I think we’re doing well in that regard. I think you’ll have some very good proposals very soon.”

In a 60 Minutes interview, Zelenskyy hit back at Trump, insisting that he doesn’t ‘want to engage in the altered reality that is being presented to me’.

“First and foremost, we did not launch an attack. It seems to me that the vice president is somehow justifying Putin’s actions,” Zelenskyy said of JD Vance.

Opening up about his ‘hatred’ towards Putin, he said: “Putin? 100 percent hatred. Not even 99.9 percent.”

Trump told reporters that Volodymyr Zelenskyy was not ‘competent’ (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

“Though this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t work to end the war as soon as possible and transition to diplomacy. But how else can you see a person who came here and murdered our people, murdered children?

“We’re inside a school bomb shelter right now. The bomb shelter of a school. The bomb shelter classrooms beneath the city of Kryvyi Rih were silent.”

Zelenskyy further told CBS’ Scott Pelley during the interview that this is the reason why ‘we can’t trust Russia’.

“Our people have paid the highest price possible. There is no higher price. We have given all our money–all we have in terms of finances. But most important, we gave [the lives of] our people,” he said.

Keir Starmer has said that Russian leader Vladimir Putin must not play games over a potential ceasefire to stop Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

It’s over three years since Putin invaded Ukraine in what has become the largest and deadliest conflict in Europe since the Second World War.

A ceasefire deal which would halt the war for 30 days has been proposed by the US and has Ukrainian support, but Putin said that while he ‘absolutely supports’ the idea of a ceasefire he had some conditions he wanted.

Putin spoke about Ukrainian troops that had launched a counter-offensive into Kursk and questioned how Ukraine would use the 30-day ceasefire time.

“How will those 30 days be used? For Ukraine to mobilise? Rearm? Train people? Or none of that? Then a question – how will that be controlled,” Putin asked, also demanding that the price of a 30-day ceasefire included Ukraine abandoning attempts to join NATO and to give up control of parts of their country occupied by Russian troops.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russian leader was using ‘highly predictable and manipulative words’ to reject a ceasefire without explicitly rejecting it.

Keir Starmer is today hosting a video conference with leaders of other nations to discuss a peace plan for Ukraine (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Donald Trump had said that Russia faces a ‘very bad punishment’ if Putin didn’t agree to the ceasefire, but later said he was ‘getting pretty good vibes’ that Russia would agree to the ceasefire, saying: “I think I know him pretty well and I think he’s going to agree.”

Sir Keir Starmer, the UK Prime Minister, is today (15 March) holding further talks with countries on the possibility of establishing a ‘coalition of the willing’ peacekeeping force for Ukraine, and said that Putin must not play games over a ceasefire.

Starmer said: “We can’t allow President Putin to play games with President Trump’s deal.

“The Kremlin’s complete disregard for President Trump’s ceasefire proposal only serves to demonstrate that Putin is not serious about peace.”

Russia has not agreed to the ceasefire and the PM hit out at Putin’s attempts to delay having to make a decision on it, insisting that ‘the world needs to see action’ on peace.

He said: “Putin is trying to delay, saying there must be a painstaking study before a ceasefire can take place, but the world needs to see action, not a study or empty words and pointless conditions.

“My message to the Kremlin could not be clearer: stop the barbaric attacks on Ukraine, once and for all, and agree to a ceasefire now. Until then we will keep working around the clock to deliver peace.”

Vladimir Putin has said he wants conditions on a 30 day ceasefire in his invasion of Ukraine, including Ukraine giving up territory Russia has occupied (MAXIM SHEMETOV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Starmer continued with his words on the Russian invasion of Ukraine today by saying that he thought Russia would have to engage seriously in negotiations at some point.

“My feeling is that sooner or later [Putin is] going to have to come to the table and engage in serious discussion, but – and this is a big but for us this morning in our meeting – we can’t sit back and simply wait for that to happen,” the PM said from Downing Street.

“We have to keep pushing ahead, pushing forward, and preparing for peace, and a peace that will be secure and that will last.

“I think that means strengthening Ukraine so they can defend themselves, and strengthening, obviously, in terms of military capability, in terms of funding, in terms of the provision of further support from all of us to Ukraine.

“Secondly, being prepared to defend any deal ourselves through a coalition of the willing. We’ve begun that process and this morning we can take it forward.

“And then, thirdly, and really importantly, given the developments of the last few days, to keep the pressure on Putin to come to the table, and I think collectively we’ve got a number of ways that we can do that.

“So it’s those three heads, really, that we’re going to focus on in this meeting, strengthening Ukraine, being prepared to defend any deal ourselves through a coalition of the willing, and keeping that pressure on Russia at this crucial time.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has laid out his list of demands for a ceasefire in Ukraine.

This comes as Russia seemingly had a public change of heart on the prospect of a ceasefire in Ukraine.

It initially appeared the Russians weren’t onboard with the idea after Putin aide Yuri Ushakov dismissed the idea of a 30-day ceasefire ahead of talks to permanently end the war. Despite US leader Donald Trump’s previous warnings that things would get ‘very bad for Russia’ if they didn’t agree to a deal.

But just as we were all busy stockpiling tinned food and building fallout shelters, Putin announced that Russia ‘absolutely supports’ a ceasefire deal after all… with conditions.

Vladimir Putin laid out his ceasefire conditions in a TV address (Contributor/Getty Images)

What are Russia’s conditions for a ceasefire in Ukraine?

Putin has now made it clear that a ceasefire in Ukraine would only be on the table if his demands are met, telling reporters during a broadcast on Russian state television that he was in favour of a 30-day ceasefire, but there are ‘nuances’.

“First of all, what are we going to do about this incursion in Kursk?” he began, referring to the small areas of Russian territory which Ukraine currently holds.

The 72-year-old has previously stated that Russian forces are allegedly back in control of the Kursk region and that Ukrainian troops ‘have been isolated’.

He added: “If we ceased hostilities for 30 days, would it mean that everybody there would leave? Should we release them after they committed serious crimes against civilians there?”

Putin then further questioned the technicalities of a ceasefire, questioning if the Ukrainians would use the time to regroup and rearm their forces. “How will those 30 days be used? For Ukraine to mobilise? Rearm? Train people? Or none of that? Then a question – how will that be controlled,” he questioned.

The Russian president has suggested an openness to working with the Trump administration (Kremlin Press Office / Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

“How will other aspects be dealt with along with 2,000-kilometre contact line? As you know, the Russian troops are advancing practically in every sector of the contact line, and all the conditions are there for us to besiege fairly large [Ukrainian] units.”

Russia is thought to occupy around 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, which includes parts of the parts of Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts, as well as Crimea.

The questions laid out in Putin’s TV address follow previous conditions set by the Russian leader, which includes no NATO membership for Kyiv, along with an agreement not to deploy foreign troops in Ukraine and international recognition of Russian sovereignty over occupied Ukrainian territory (via The Times).

Zelenskyy has since responded to the address (Justin Tallis – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

“The idea is good and we absolutely support it, but there are issues we need to discuss, and I think we need to negotiate with our American colleagues,” he added.