On Palm Sunday, as many Ukrainians attended church services, a Russian ballistic missile strike killed at least 31 people and injured more than 80 others in the Ukrainian city of Sumy. As an NBC News report noted, this was “one of the deadliest single attacks on the country this year.”

Asked about the brutal attack, President Donald Trump said it was “terrible” but quickly added, in apparent reference to Russia’s military, “I was told they made a mistake.”

In context, the president didn’t appear to mean “mistake” as in, “Russia made a mistake by crossing a new line, and they will soon face serious consequences.” Rather, he meant “mistake” as in “oops.”

Hours later, the Republican turned to his social media platform to argue that the U.S. and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “did an absolutely horrible job in allowing this travesty to begin.” As the day progressed, Trump returned to the issue during an Oval Office event, questioned Zelenskyy’s competence and then explicitly blamed the Ukrainian leader for starting the war that Russia started.

“You don’t start a war against somebody that’s 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles,” the American president said, reality be damned.

If the rhetoric sounds familiar, there’s a good reason for that: In February, Trump said Ukraine “should have never started” the war that Russia started.

Soon after, in the Czech Republic, Ukraine Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said via social media, in reference to Trump blaming Russia’s war on Ukraine, “I’m afraid we’ve never been this close to Orwell’s ‘war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength’ before.” Zelenskyy added that Trump appears trapped in a “disinformation bubble.”

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Two months later, that bubble remains intact.

I can appreciate that Trump might be a little sensitive on this issue after assuring the world that he’d end the conflict within 24 hours, and then breaking one of his most notable campaign promises. But that doesn’t make his claims any less ridiculous.

What’s more, the Republican’s indefensible effort to point the finger at the victim of the attack, instead of the perpetrator, is the latest installment in a series of related efforts, which include:

• The Trump administration halted cyber operations and information operations against Russia.
• Trump upbraided Zelenskyy in the Oval Office while peddling Kremlin-style talking points.
• Trump suggested Putin was a victim of the 2016 Russia scandal.
• The Trump administration is terminating an initiative to protect Ukraine’s energy grid.
• Trump is prepared to reward Russia by welcoming it back into the G7.
• The Trump administration disbanded the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force.
• The Trump administration pared back enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
• The Trump administration disbanded the Justice Department’s program responsible for enforcing Russian sanctions and targeting oligarchs close to the Kremlin.
• The Trump administration slashed the U.S. Agency for International Development, to the delight of Moscow.
• The Trump administration targeted U.S. intelligence officials as part of its mass firing campaign.
• Trump’s delegation to the United Nations voted with Russia — and against U.S. allies — on a resolution condemning Russian aggression in Ukraine.

Imagine a hypothetical scenario in which Putin spoke privately to Trump and provided the American president with a to-do list. Would it look much different than the White House’s agenda from the last few months?

This post updates our related earlier coverage.