By HANNA ARHIROVA and JUSTIN SPIKE Associated Press
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Relations between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump deteriorated rapidly Wednesday as Zelenskyy said Trump was living in a Russian-made “disinformation space” and Trump called Zelenskyy “a dictator without elections” in comments that were sure to complicate efforts to end the war.
Zelenskyy also said he would like Trump’s team “to be more truthful” as he offered his first response to a series of striking claims that Trump made a day earlier, including falsely suggesting that Kyiv was to blame for the war, which enters its fourth year next week.
The comments from Trump and Zelenskyy were a staggering back-and-forth between leaders of two countries that have been staunch allies in recent years under Trump’s predecessor. While former President Joe Biden was in the White House, the U.S. provided crucial military equipment to Kyiv to fend off the invasion and used its political weight to defend Ukraine and isolate Russia on the world stage.
The Trump administration has started charting a new course, reaching out to Russia and pushing for a peace deal. Senior officials from both countries held talks Tuesday to discuss improving ties, negotiating an end to the war and potentially preparing a meeting between Trump and Putin after years of frosty relations.
Trump lashed out at Zelenskyy in a social media post, calling him “a modestly successful comedian” who “talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and ‘TRUMP,’ will never be able to settle.”
Trump went on to say that the only thing Zelenskyy “was good at was playing Biden ‘like a fiddle.’” He advised Zelenskyy to “move fast or he is not going to have a Country left.”
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would like to meet with Trump.
Russia’s army crossed the border on Feb. 24, 2022, in an all-out invasion that Putin sought to justify by saying it was needed to protect civilians in eastern Ukraine and prevent the country from joining NATO. Ukraine and its allies denounced it as an unprovoked act of aggression.
“I would like to have a meeting, but it needs to be prepared so that it brings results,” Putin said Wednesday in televised remarks. He added that he would be “pleased” to meet Trump but noted that Trump has acknowledged that a Ukrainian settlement could take longer than he initially hoped.
The Russian leader hailed Tuesday’s talks between Russian and U.S. senior officials in the Saudi capital of Riyadh as “very positive.” He said officials who took part in the talks described the U.S. delegation to him as “completely different people who were open to the negotiation process without any bias, without any condemnation of what was done in the past,” and determined to work together with Moscow.
Putin said “the goal and subject” of Tuesday’s talks “was the restoration of Russia-U.S. relations.”
“Without increasing the level of trust between Russia and the United States, it is impossible to resolve many issues, including the Ukrainian crisis. The goal of this meeting was precisely to increase trust between Russia and the United States,” Putin said.
He brushed off Zelenskyy’s complaints about Ukraine being left out of the U.S.-Russian talks, saying that Kyiv’s reaction was “unfounded.”
“President Trump told me during our phone call that the United States are proceeding from the assumption that the negotiations process will involve Russia and Ukraine,” Putin said. “No one is going to exclude Ukraine out of it.”
Putin also added that he was surprised to see Trump showing “restraint” regarding the European leaders who backed his rival in the U.S. election.
“All European leaders effectively intervened directly in the U.S. elections,” he said, adding that some “directly insulted” Trump. “Frankly speaking, I’m surprised to see the newly elected U.S. president’s restraint regarding his allies, who have behaved in a boorish way to put it straight.”
Putin reiterated the Kremlin’s official line that Russia never rejected the possibility of talks with Kyiv or its European allies. “The Europeans have stopped contacts with Russia. The Ukrainian side has forbidden itself to negotiate,” he said in a reference to Zelenskyy’s 2022 decree that rejected any talks with Moscow.
Zelenskyy’s remarks Wednesday came shortly before he was expected to meet with Keith Kellogg, the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine and Russia as part of the administration’s recent diplomatic blitz.
Ukraine and its European supporters have expressed concern that they weren’t invited to the talks between top American and Russian diplomats in Saudi Arabia, amid larger worries that the deal taking shape could be unfavorable to Kyiv.
At a news conference Tuesday, Trump showed little patience for Ukraine’s objections to being excluded. He also said, without providing the source, that Zelenskyy’s approval rating stood at 4%, while telling reporters that Ukraine “should have never started” the war and “could have made a deal” to prevent it.
Zelenskyy replied Wednesday at his own news conference: “We have seen this disinformation. We understand that it is coming from Russia.” He said that Trump “lives in this disinformation space.”
Zelenskyy said he hoped Kellogg would walk through Kyiv and ask Ukrainians “if they trust their president? Do they trust Putin? Let him ask about Trump, what they think after the statements made by their president.”
Russian state TV and other state-controlled media reacted with glee to what they portrayed as Trump’s cold shoulder to Zelenskyy.
“Trump isn’t even trying to hide his irritation with Zelenskyy,” the Rossiya channel said at the top of its newscast.
“Trump steamrolled Zelenskyy for his complaints about the talks with Russia,” the daily Komsomolskaya Pravda said.
Trump also suggested Ukraine ought to hold elections, which have been postponed due to the war and the consequent imposition of martial law, in accordance with the Ukrainian Constitution.
Zelenskyy also referred to “the story” that 90% of all aid received by Ukraine comes from the United States.
He said that, for instance, about 34% of all weapons in Ukraine are domestically produced and over 30% of support comes from Europe.
The battlefield has brought more grim news for Ukraine in recent months. A relentless onslaught in eastern areas by Russia’s bigger army is grinding down Ukrainian forces, who are slowly but steadily being pushed backward at some points on the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line.
American officials have signaled that Ukraine’s hopes of joining NATO to ward off Russian aggression after reaching a possible peace agreement won’t happen. Zelenskyy says any settlement will require U.S. security commitments to keep Russia at bay.
“We understand the need for security guarantees,” Kellogg said in comments carried by Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne Novyny on his arrival at Kyiv’s train station.
“It’s very clear to us the importance of the sovereignty of this nation and the independence of this nation as well. … Part of my mission is to sit and listen,” the retired three-star general said.
Kellogg said he would convey what he learns on his visit to Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to “ensure that we get this one right.”
