President Trump has spent the day attacking Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, calling him a “dictator” and deepening the rift between the two leaders.
His attacks came after Zelensky, reacting to US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia from which Kyiv was excluded, said the US president was “living in a disinformation space” governed by Moscow.
Speaking at a Saudi-backed investment meeting in Florida, Trump said the only thing Zelensky “was really good at was playing Joe Biden like a fiddle”.
The “dictator” slur quickly prompted criticism from European leaders including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who said “it is simply wrong and dangerous to deny President Zelensky his democratic legitimacy”.
Speaking in Florida, Trump called Zelensky a “dictator”, just hours after using the same word in a Truth Social post about the Ukrainian president.
“He refuses to have elections. He’s low in the real Ukrainian polls. How can you be high with every city being demolished?” Trump said.
He also referenced his attempt to get rare-earth minerals from Ukraine, accusing Zelensky’s government of “breaking the deal”.
His address echoed his wording of the Truth Social post where Trump said Zelensky “has done a terrible job, his country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died.” In the meantime, the US was “successfully negotiating an end to the war with Russia,” he said.
Trump said “I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat, well, they’ve had a seat for three years and a long time before that. This could have been settled very easily.”
“You should have never started it. You could have made a deal,” Trump added.
Trump did not mention that President Vladimir Putin took the decision to invade Ukraine in February 2022.
A White House official said Trump’s post was in direct response to Zelensky’s “disinformation” comments.
Zelensky is due to meet the American envoy for Russia and Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, on Thursday. He said it was crucial that the discussion – and overall co-operation with the US – remains constructive.
In a social media post, Zelensky said that peace could be more secure with the US and Europe.
Zelensky’s five-year term of office was due to come to an end in May 2024. However, Ukraine has been under martial law since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 and elections are suspended.
