President Donald Trump tore into Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on social media Wednesday, calling him a “modestly successful comedian” who is “very low in Ukrainian Polls” and who played Joe Biden “like a fiddle.”
The president’s fusillade of insults came after Zelenskyy earlier Wednesday accused Trump of living in a Russian-made “disinformation space” and a day after senior American and Russian officials held talks aimed at ending the Ukraine War.
“Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 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 wrote on his platform Truth Social.
“The United States has spent $200 Billion Dollars more than Europe, and Europe’s money is guaranteed, while the United States will get nothing back. Why didn’t Sleepy Joe Biden demand Equalization, in that this War is far more important to Europe than it is to us — We have a big, beautiful Ocean as separation,” the president continued.
On top of this, Zelenskyy admits that half of the money we sent him is “MISSING.” He refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden “like a fiddle.” A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left. In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only “TRUMP,” and the Trump Administration, can do. Biden never tried, Europe has failed to bring Peace, and Zelenskyy probably wants to keep the “gravy train” going.
Trump first made the claim that Zelenskyy has low approval numbers during a news conference Tuesday, where he contended that Ukraine “should have never started” the war, and “could have made a deal” to prevent it. The president also chastised Ukraine for canceling its elections, which have been indefinitely postponed due to the war.
The latest Ukrainian poll, for what it’s worth, puts Zelenskyy’s approval numbers at 57 percent.
Russian state-controlled media covered Trump’s remarks toward Zelenskyy with “glee,” according to the Associated Press.
“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.
During his own news conference Wednesday, the Ukraine president disputed Trump’s claims about his approval numbers: “We have seen this disinformation. We understand that it is coming from Russia,” he said, adding that Trump “lives in this disinformation space.”
Zelenskyy said he hoped Kellogg would take a 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.”
Regardless of his approval numbers, whatever they are, Zelenskyy remains popular with many U.S. politicians on both sides of the aisle. He met with a bipartisan delegation of supportive U.S. Senators during the Munich Security Conference last week.
The meeting was attended by Republican Senators Lindsey Graham (S.C.), John Cornyn (Texas), Dan Sullivan (Alaska), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Roger Wicker (Miss.), Thom Tillis (N.C.), Eric Schmitt (Mo.), and Democratic Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) , Adam Schiff (Calif.), Andy Kim (N.J.), Mark Warner (Va.), Michael Bennet (Colo.), Chris Coons (Del.), Brian Schatz (Hawaii), Chris Van Hollen (Md.), and Elissa Slotkin (Mich.).
Zelenskyy also disputed “the story” that 90 percent of all war funding received by Ukraine comes from the United States, telling reporters that about 34 percent of all weapons in the country are domestically produced and over 30 percent of support comes from Europe.
The Ukraine president’s comments Wednesday “came shortly before he was expected to meet with Keith Kellogg, the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine and Russia,” the AP reported.
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.
Russia’s army invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, justifying the aggression as necessary to protect civilians in eastern Ukraine and prevent the country from joining NATO.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he would like to meet with Trump.
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.
“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, according to the AP, 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 said Zelenskyy’s complaints about Ukraine being left out of the U.S.-Russian talk were “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 reportedly remarked that he was surprised to see Trump showing “restraint” toward the European leaders who backed Kamala Harris in the 2024 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.
Trump meanwhile made clear on Truth Social that his patience with Ukraine’s leader has worn thin.
“I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died – And so it continues,” Trump wrote.