The Wall Street Journal’s conservative editorial board took a new swipe at Donald Trump on Sunday, accusing him of going easy on Russia while lecturing Ukraine over its attacks on Russian energy infrastructure.
The board drew a stark contrast between the president’s recent rhetoric toward the two countries, which have been at war since 2022, when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Read the full piece on The Wall Street Journal.
In an editorial titled “Trump Lectures Ukraine, not Russia,” and subheadlined, “He tells Kyiv to stop hitting Russian diesel, while Putin bombs civilian targets,” the Journal pointed to Russia’s weekend attack on a passenger train near Ukraine’s border with Poland.
It noted that Trump “had nothing critical to say” about the strike.
But the board continued, he “did find the time to warn” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “against Ukraine’s targeting energy supply depots inside Russia.”
Trump on Sunday urged Zelenskyy to stop targeting Russian fuel facilities.
“Zelenskyy has to do one thing,” he said. “He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia. Let him go after targets but not diesel fuel, because he’s causing a shortage of diesel fuel.”
The Journal’s board essentially summarized the situation as: “So Russia can fire away at any and all targets in Ukraine, but Ukraine must restrain itself in retaliating in Russia.”
Trump’s warning came as the war he launched against Iran in February continues to wreak havoc on global energy supplies and prices.
The board said that Trump “is clearly worried about the price of diesel fuel, but blaming Ukraine amid Iranian and Houthi attacks on Mideast oil production and transport is political excuse-making on a grand scale.”