Following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wished the former president a “speedy recovery”, while Putin’s supporters highlighted conspiracy theories about the shooting.
Volodymyr Zelensky describes horror at assassination attempt on President Trump (Getty Images)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, who was shot in the ear while hosting a Republican rally in Pennsylvania.
Gunfire rang out while Trump was speaking in Butler, Pennsylvania, forcing him to take cover and run for cover, where he was quickly surrounded by Secret Service agents.
Trump quickly left the rally in a motorcade, as the former president made his final push to the key battleground state before the Republican National Convention begins in Milwaukee on Monday, where he is trying to shore up his support.
Russian President Putin’s allies are not too impressed with recent events in the US (Getty Images)
As Putin’s supporters highlighted conspiracy theories about the shooting, Zelensky said he was “horrified to learn that former US President Donald Trump was shot during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Such acts of violence are unacceptable and have no place anywhere in the world.”
“Violence must never win. We are pleased to know that Donald Trump is safe and wish him a speedy recovery. We also extend our condolences to the families of those who attended the rally and were killed in this attack.”
Russian propagandists claimed Zelensky was simply repeating the playbook of the US Democratic Party, with one Telegram channel reporting that “Biden, Obama, Pelosi and other Democrats were saying exactly the same thing.”
Meanwhile, Margarita Simonyan, President Vladimir Putin’s leading female propagandist, posted: “Pennsylvania State Police say US law enforcement authorities believe the shooter of President Trump acted alone,” adding sarcastically: “Yes, indeed.”
“When all other ways to get rid of a bad president are exhausted,” she said, “good old Lee Harvey Oswald comes along. Watching America is like watching a TV series whose writers ran out of imagination long ago and repeat themselves episode after episode, but you keep watching because you’re as familiar with the characters as you are with house slippers.”
Donald Trump assassination attempt
The pro-Russia Telegram channel Liver stressed that the shooter had been identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks from Pennsylvania. “At the same time,” the channel said, “there had been rumors for some time that the shooter was Chinese.”
The channel, which has 1.1 million subscribers and is run by former Russian Defense Ministry official Mikhail Zvinchuk, added: “The individual’s motive has not yet been announced, but at the same time, US law enforcement agencies claim that the threat to Donald Trump’s life has not been ruled out, which means that further arrests are expected, but it cannot be ruled out that as a result, only the killer will receive publicity in the media.”
Maria Zakharova, a prominent spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, claimed that the US was encouraging incitement to hatred against political opponents. “Just two months ago, I drew attention to the fact that the US is literally stimulating incitement to hatred against political opponents, and I also cited as an example the US tradition of assassinating and killing presidents and presidential candidates,” she said.
But Olga Skabeyeva, a war propagandist for state television also known as Putin’s “iron puppet”, said: “The shot was aimed at the head, but it pierced his right ear. It killed the man next to him. It seems God himself is protecting Donald Trump.”
