Trump calls Russia's war on Ukraine 'holocaust'

WASHINGTON

Former US President Donald Trump described Russia's war on Ukraine as a "holocaust" and said Moscow has to stop killing Ukrainians.

The former president told Fox Business that a deal with Russia is a solution to halt hostilities in Ukraine.

"You have to work out a deal. They have to stop killing these people. They're killing all of these people, and ... they have to stop it now," said Trump.

"But they don't respect the United States and the United States is like, I don't know, they’re not doing anything about it. This is a holocaust," he said. "This is a horrible thing that's happening. You're witnessing and you're seeing it on television every night."

The international community has reacted with fury since Russia launched its war on Ukraine on Feb. 24. Besides sanctions and excluding Moscow from the international payment system, SWIFT, the US, UK, EU and allies have also supplied Ukraine with weapons, shut airspace for Russian airlines and banned Russian state-run media.

More than 2,000 civilians have been killed since the start of the war, according to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, while the UN Refugee Agency estimates over 874,000 people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries.