Things Russia has done to Ukraine that Trump thinks are 'fine'

"Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine. They haven't been doing much," U.S. President Donald Trump remarked to a group of journalists outside the White House on Oct. 19.

The comments came as tensions between Kyiv and Washington are rising after reports that the U.S. stopped warning Kyiv of incoming Russian ballistic missiles and limited the use of Starshield, a military version of Elon Musk's Starlink, for Ukraine, making it difficult to intercept Russian attacks on Ukraine.

While Russia wages its war with no regard for civilian lives or human dignity, these are just some of the things that Trump seemingly considers "fine."

The U.S. president spoke only hours after Russia had launched another deadly attack on the people of Ukraine a few hours before he made his comments. A Russian drone struck a park in the town of Nova Vodolaha, Kharkiv Oblast, killing six and injuring at least 15 others.

Inna Mariukhna, a 28-year-old teacher at a local school, was one of those killed in the attack. She was pushing her 1-year-old daughter, Anhelina, in a stroller when the Russian jet-powered drone struck them both. Anhelina was killed instantly, while Inna succumbed to her injuries in hospital.

Pictures showing Anhelina's bloodied and lifeless body, still strapped in her stroller, her small shoes still perfectly tied, were posted on social media by many including President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Arina Koval, an 8-year-old girl, was also killed in the drone strike, as were 34-year-old Yulia Spichak, 36-year-old Marianna Tsymbal, and a sixth victim who has not been named.

Zelensky described the attack as an "absolute atrocity." Trump thinks this is "fine."

In the morning hours of Oct. 20, at least three people were killed and four people injured after a Russian drone struck early morning commuter traffic in the Holosiivskyi District of Kyiv.

Ukraine's State Emergency Service reported Russia's drone strike, saying: "The enemy is once again cynically attacking civilians. Behind each such blow are human lives, pain, and ruined destinies."

This was but one of hundreds of continuous Russian strikes on Ukraine's capital and dozens of other cities and communities across the country, as the Kremlin is pursuing another theory of victory — attempting to bomb Ukrainian cities into submission.

"328 civilians were killed and 2,105 injured in September 2026."

According to the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, at least 328 civilians were killed and 2,105 injured in September 2026, an 85% increase from September 2025. The deadly trend is continuing into October, according to the mission. "The first two weeks of October were among the deadliest periods for civilians in years," Danielle Bell, head of the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said.

Recent U.S. actions have increased the threat for Ukrainian civilians. Ukraine's Starshield satellite internet terminals, which Ukraine uses to control anti-drone interceptors, have been impeded, while deliveries of vital Patriot interceptors have been deliberately delayed by the Pentagon, Zelensky said on Oct. 18, an allegation corroborated by reporting in the Kyiv Independent and the Washington Post.

The New York Times, meanwhile, reported a Russian plan, presented to the publication by Ukrainian authorities, to destroy Ukraine's beleaguered energy system once and for all. While Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy system have been ongoing throughout the year at a low level, Moscow has recently ramped up mass attacks to wipe out power plants, substations, and gas infrastructure for its fifth winter offensive during the full-scale invasion.

At a recent official event of Russia's International People's Unity Club in Moscow, Russian Lt. Col. Alexey Selivano said: "Wherever Russian troops arrive, Ukrainians cease to exist."

From the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, Russian forces have inflicted countless atrocities against Ukraine.

In March 2022, Russian forces carried out a massacre of Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war in Bucha, a suburb to the west of Kyiv, after their failed attempt to take the Ukrainian capital. Liberating Ukrainian forces found the bodies of victims, some with their hands tied, lying in the streets. The bodies of 458 people were eventually recovered from Bucha. The majority of them had been shot, tortured or bludgeoned.

From the opening days of Russia's full-scale invasion, the people of Mariupol suffered horrifically during the 86-day Russian siege. To this day, the exact number of Ukrainian civilians killed in Russia's assault on the city is unknown. According to preliminary estimates by Ukraine's Center for the Study of Occupation, at least 22,000 civilians were killed during the siege. The true figure might never be known, as Russia has deliberately destroyed graves and cremated bodies in an attempt to conceal the true death toll in Mariupol. Some estimates put the actual figure as high as 87,000.

A Russian airstrike on March 16, 2022, likely killed 300 to 900 people hiding inside the Mariupol Drama Theater, according to different estimates, including an Associated Press investigation and figures by exiled local authorities. They were awaiting evacuation from the then-besieged Mariupol amid heavy Russian bombardment. Footage of the theater shows that the word "Children" in Russian was written in large letters on the square in front of the theater. Russia bombed the building regardless.

Across Ukraine's occupied territories, Russia has been kidnapping Ukrainian children. Russia's forcible transfer of children constitutes crimes against humanity, according to a probe by an U.N.-mandated independent commission.

"Based on new evidence, the Commission has now concluded that the Russian authorities committed two types of crimes against humanity: deportation and forcible transfer of children, as well as their enforced disappearance," Erik Mose, chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, said in a statement on March 12.

This was an issue the White House at least appeared to care about previously, with the U.S. State Department allocating $25 million in funding in March 2026 to help trace and rehabilitate Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.

In May, the United Nations also blacklisted Russian armed and security forces for carrying out systematic sexual assaults, rape, and widespread torture of Ukrainian prisoners. Despite Russia's refusal to grant access to U.N. human rights investigators, they were still able to independently verify 310 cases of conflict-related sexual violence in Russia and Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory. The victims were prisoners of war and civilian detainees, the vast majority of them men.