MIAMI (AP) — US President Donald Trump on Wednesday called Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator without elections,” lashing out after the Ukrainian president said Trump was being influenced by Russian disinformation as he moves to end the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine on terms that Kyiv says are too favorable to Moscow.
“Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelensky, 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 US and ‘TRUMP,’ will never be able to settle,” Trump said of Zelensky, who was popular television star in Ukraine before running for office.
Trump added in his social media post that Zelensky is “A Dictator without Elections!!”
Zelensky was elected president in 2019 after a career as an entertainer. He resisted pressure to leave the country when Russia invaded in 2022, mounting a defense that protected the capital, Kyiv.
Because of the war, Ukraine has delayed elections that were scheduled for April 2024.
Zelensky, who met Trump’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, in Kyiv on Wednesday, said he would like Trump’s team to have “more truth” about Ukraine, a day after Trump said Ukraine “should never have started” the conflict with Russia.
The Ukrainian leader said Trump’s assertion that his approval rating was just 4% was Russian disinformation and that any attempt to replace him would fail.
“We have evidence that these figures are being discussed between America and Russia. That is, President Trump … unfortunately lives in this disinformation space,” Zelensky told Ukrainian TV.
The latest poll from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, from early February, says 57% of Ukrainians trust Zelensky.
Trump used his post to accuse Zelensky of misusing American aid to Ukraine for the war effort and taking advantage of the Biden administration.
Less than a month into his presidency, Trump has upended US policy on Ukraine and Russia, ending Washington’s bid to isolate Russia over its invasion of Ukraine with a Trump-Putin phone call and talks between senior US and Russian officials.
Trump said he may meet Putin this month. The Kremlin said such a meeting could take longer to prepare but Russia’s sovereign wealth fund said it expected a number of US companies to return to Russia as early as the second quarter.
Wednesday’s sharp back-and-forth came after senior US and Russian officials met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday and agreed to negotiate a settlement to an end to the war. Ukrainian and European officials were not included despite Zelensky’s insistence that they should be part of any such discussions.
But Trump, who campaigned on a pledge to quickly bring the war to a close, reaffirmed his position that Zelensky should have negotiated an end earlier.
“Zelensky better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,” Trump said.
“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 Zelensky probably wants to keep the ‘gravy train’ going.”
Reuters contributed to this report.