Duterte: What Putin is doing in Ukraine deserves condemnation, ‘hindi maganda’

President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said that Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in Ukraine,  where children and civilians were being killed amid the conflict, deserved “condemnation, hindi maganda (it's ugly).”

In his speech at the Joint National Task Force–Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict XIII Meeting in Butuan City, Duterte emphasized that he was very different from Putin, noting that his administration only targeted criminals in its drug war.

“Natatawa ako kasi dalawa na kami ni Putin ngayon.. ako nagpapatay ako ng tao pero ang pinapatay ko criminal hindi ako nagpapatay, nagbobomba ng bata, matanda yung aking kaso sa ICC (International Criminal Court) magkaiba, ako kriminal ang pinatay ko eh. Yung giyera nila doon its so brutal,” he said.

(I can't help but laugh a little because Putin and I are being lumped together. I kill people but only criminals. I didn't kill, or bomb children and the elderly. My case at the ICC is different. I'm only killing criminals while they are waging a brutal war there.)

“Ako I do not hindi ko kaya yun, magkaibigan kami ni Putin but I’d like to say that what is happening there is deserves a condemnation hindi maganda,” he added.

(I don't, I can't do that, Putin and I are friends but I’d like to say that what is happening there deserves condemnation, it is ugly.)

The administration's official tally of drug war deaths was over 6,000, though rights groups say that the actual number is much higher.

Meanwhile, the ICC had temporarily suspended its investigation into the alleged crimes against humanity committed in Duterte's war on drugs.

The ICC investigation was suspended after the Philippines requested prosecutors to defer to the government's investigation into the drug war killings.

Duterte underscored that he did not benefit from his drug war campaign, noting that it was waged for the “future of the Filipino youth.”

The ICC, meanwhile, had also sent a team of investigators into "the Ukraine region" to start looking into possible war crimes there.

Duterte earlier said that the Philippines needed to stay “neutral” in the conflict, though he conceded that the country would eventually have to make a stand.

He also said that he was hoping that the rising tensions between both the US and Russia would not lead to a nuclear war as the whole world would be affected.

Meanwhile, Duterte vowed to go after the criminals even in the last months of his administration.

“Ako dito I do not know how remaining days two months ako pagnasa droga ka, p— ina mo, papatayin talaga kita. Because you destroy the young people and old people who are stupid to adopt that kind of gusto ko lang malaman ninyo na you continue with they are raking billions until now,” Duterte said.

(I don't know how many days remaining, two months, if you are on drugs, I will really kill you. Because you destroy the young people and old people who are stupid to adopt that kind of I just want you to know that they are continue with are raking billions until now.) — DVM, GMA News