The simmering feud between President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and President Trump escalated on Wednesday when Mr. Trump mocked his counterpart in a put up stuffed with falsehoods, calling him a “dictator with out elections.”
His feedback got here hours after Mr. Zelensky mentioned the American chief had been “caught in an internet of disinformation” from Russia over the warfare in Ukraine.
The pointed trade was set off by a gathering of American and Russian officers to open talks on ending the warfare in Ukraine that excluded the Ukrainian authorities. After that assembly in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, Mr. Trump suggested that Ukraine had began the warfare, a remark that introduced a powerful rebuttal from Mr. Zelensky on Wednesday morning.
“I want to have extra fact with the Trump group,” Mr. Zelensky mentioned in among the most overt criticism but of Mr. Trump and his view of the warfare in Ukraine.
Mr. Zelensky, summoning reporters to his presidential workplace in Kyiv, a constructing nonetheless fortified with sandbags, mentioned that the U.S. president was dwelling in a “internet of disinformation.”
In a post on his Reality Social account, Mr. Trump responded with a scathing assault on Mr. Zelensky.
“Consider it, a modestly profitable comic, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the USA of America into spending $350 Billion {Dollars}, to enter a Battle that couldn’t be received, that by no means needed to begin, however a Battle that he, with out the U.S. and “TRUMP,” won’t ever be capable of settle,” Mr. Trump wrote.
As he did in making his assertions a day earlier, he misrepresented verifiable info. The USA, as an example, has allotted $119 billion for help to Ukraine, in line with a analysis group in Germany, the Kiel Institute, not $350 billion.
Mr. Trump additionally prompt that future safety of Ukraine wouldn’t be an American drawback. “This Battle is way extra vital to Europe than it’s to us,” he wrote. “We’ve an enormous, lovely Ocean as separation.”
The deepening feud threatens to undermine Ukraine’s warfare effort and additional weaken its place within the peace talks which have already began between the U.S. and Russia — notably with out Kyiv’s involvement.
Mr. Trump’s fixation on the USA’ being repaid for army and monetary help over three years of warfare may put a cease on any future help package deal to the war-torn nation. Ukraine has lengthy been depending on common American deliveries of air-defense weapons, shells and different kind of ammunition to maintain its battle in opposition to Russia.
“Let’s be trustworthy: With out the U.S., will probably be very troublesome for us,” Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, the top of Ukraine’s army intelligence company, said on Wednesday.
Kyiv has pushed for a seat on the negotiating desk with Russia. However Mr. Trump’s portrayal of Moscow as a prepared accomplice in peace talks, and his dismissal of Mr. Zelensky as an illegitimate and ineffective chief, dangers additional sidelining Ukraine.
In his social media put up Wednesday, Mr. Trump mentioned in a menacing tone that Mr. Zelensky had “higher transfer quick” to safe peace “or he’s not going to have a Nation left.”
His feedback adopted up equally accusatory statements he made on Tuesday. Mr. Trump mentioned Ukraine “ought to have by no means began” the warfare, and appeared to embrace what has been a Russian demand that Ukraine maintain elections as a vital step within the settlement talks. Elections have been suspended underneath martial legislation after Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
Mr. Trump additionally mentioned Tuesday that Mr. Zelensky’s approval score was 4 p.c. Mr. Zelensky mentioned that was not true, citing polls displaying far increased assist. In one conducted in December by the Kyiv Worldwide Institute of Sociology, for instance, 52 p.c of Ukrainians mentioned that they trusted his management.
“So, if anybody needs to switch me proper now — that’s not going to occur,” Mr. Zelensky mentioned, referring to his approval rankings.
Mr. Trump’s false statements, Mr. Zelensky mentioned, stemmed from misinformation unfold by individuals round him. “Such rhetoric doesn’t assist Ukraine — it solely helps in bringing Putin out of isolation,” he mentioned.
Till this week, Mr. Zelensky had walked a fine line of staking out Ukrainian positions whereas avoiding any suggestion of an open breach with the USA, Ukraine’s most vital ally in a warfare that’s nearing the three-year mark. However after the preliminary cease-fire talks between Russia and the USA on Tuesday, Mr. Zelensky starkly laid out his refusal to just accept phrases negotiated with out Ukrainian participation.
His feedback on Wednesday — pushing again on Mr. Trump’s false assertions whereas refraining from direct criticism by attributing them to a broader disinformation bubble — have been in keeping with his efforts to take care of a balancing act and preserve ties with the U.S.
On the information convention Wednesday, Mr. Zelensky was centered and spoke with depth. He mentioned he was not personally ruffled by the negotiations with the Trump administration. “This isn’t my first dialogue or battle,” he mentioned. “I take it calmly.”
Russia, he mentioned, is clearly happy with the flip of diplomatic developments. “I feel Putin and the Russians are very comfortable, as a result of questions are mentioned with them,” Mr. Zelensky mentioned.
“Yesterday, there have been indicators of talking with them as victims,” he mentioned of the Trump officers’ tone towards the Russians, whose authorities set off the biggest warfare in Europe since World Battle II, one which has killed or wounded about one million individuals on either side. “That’s one thing new.”
Ukrainians, Mr. Zelensky mentioned, aren’t prone to belief guarantees Russian negotiators supply in talks. “No person in Ukraine trusts Putin,” he mentioned.
Mr. Zelensky additionally laid out efforts to coordinate from allies safety ensures meant to forestall Russia from violating any cease-fire. This has been an overriding focus of Ukrainian diplomacy going into any peace talks.
For Russia, a continuation of the warfare additionally carries prices, together with by the estimate of army analysts a staggering toll of 1,000 troopers or extra killed or wounded each day, in addition to punishing financial sanctions. Ukraine needs to commerce this strain on Russia for acceptance of a peacekeeping power or different assure of safety to forestall the warfare, already the bloodiest in Europe in generations, from restarting.
Mr. Zelensky repeated that one choice could be membership in NATO, a chance that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has rejected and that the USA has mentioned it doesn’t assist. The Ukrainian chief additionally talked about sustaining the nation’s standing military of about a million troopers and a peacekeeping contingent from European international locations, or some mixture of those measures.
Mr. Putin on Wednesday praised the Trump administration officers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for having fostered a “very pleasant” environment. Not like previous American administrations, he prompt, the Trump group didn’t criticize Russia’s actions.
“On the American facet, there have been fully totally different individuals who have been open to the negotiation course of with none bias, with none condemnation of what was performed up to now,” Mr. Putin mentioned, talking to reporters whereas on a go to to St. Petersburg.
Mr. Putin mentioned he appeared ahead to a gathering with Mr. Trump, however declined to provide a date, cautioning that there was nonetheless loads of preparatory work to be performed, “together with on the Ukrainian monitor.”
“I’ll be comfortable to satisfy with Donald,” he mentioned. “We haven’t seen one another shortly. However we’re in a scenario the place it’s not sufficient to satisfy simply to have tea or espresso and sit and discuss concerning the future.”
Mr. Putin dismissed fears that American allies in Europe have been being excluded from the U.S.-Russia talks, arguing that the 2 international locations had bilateral points to debate, such because the expiration of the New START nuclear arms management treaty subsequent yr.
“Why are they being hysterical?” Mr. Putin mentioned, apparently referring to the Europeans. “Hysteria will not be applicable right here.”
Mr. Putin mentioned that Mr. Trump advised him of their telephone name final week that “the USA expects that the negotiating course of will happen with the participation of each Russia and Ukraine.”
“Nobody is excluding Ukraine from this course of,” Mr. Putin mentioned.
Mr. Zelensky delivered his feedback on the identical day that Keith Kellogg, the retired normal appointed by Mr. Trump as his particular envoy to Ukraine and Russia, arrived in Kyiv for a three-day go to to debate potential methods to finish the warfare.
Talking from Kyiv’s railway station upon arrival, Mr. Kellogg mentioned his mission could be “to sit down and hear” to Ukraine’s considerations. The USA, he mentioned, understands Ukraine’s “want for safety ensures” and the “significance of sovereignty of this nation” — remarks that contrasted sharply with Mr. Trump’s disparaging feedback from the day earlier than.
Mr. Zelensky mentioned he needed to take Mr. Kellogg to the entrance line so he may see the warfare firsthand. Hoping the go to would possibly pierce Mr. Trump’s disinformation bubble, he urged the American envoy to talk with civilians and troopers, and ask them “whether or not they belief their president, what they consider Putin, and what they consider Trump after his statements.”
