London – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that President Donald Trump was in a “disinformation space” while the public complaints between the two leaders deepened on Wednesday in the middle of emerging talks to end the large -scale invasion of the Russia of his neighbor.
The series of attacks, suggested Zelenskyy, was partly informed by “disinformation”, which, according to the Ukrainian president, “comes from Russia – and we have evidence”.
Trump called Zelenskyy as an election -free dictator, saying – without providing proof – that the approval rating of his Ukrainian counterpart was as low as 4%. Trump also wrote on Truth Social than Zelenskyy “is better to move quickly or that he will not stay in countries.”
Trump’s apparent push for new elections in Ukraine aligns with the long -standing discussion points of the Kremlin framing Zelenskyy as an “illegitimate” leader unsuitable for peace talks.
President Donald Trump in Washington, on February 13, 2025, the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Munich, on February 15, 2025 and Russian president Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on February 19, 2025.
Getty Images / AP
Ukraine’s last presidential election was to be held in 2024, but was postponed due to the Russian war against the country. The Constitution of Ukraine stipulates that the elections cannot be held under martial law, which was introduced in the hours following the invasion of Moscow in February 2022.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to arm the delay to Saper Kyiv. “You can negotiate with anyone, but because of his illegitimacy, he is not allowed to sign anything,” said Putin about Zelenskyy in January.
The country’s parliament and its speaker “remain the only legitimate authorities in Ukraine,” said Putin in May 2024, the month was to mark the end of Zelenskyy’s mandate.
Trump’s open wide against Zelenskyy included a call for new elections, despite the current war. “It is not something from Russia, it is something that comes from me and coming from many other countries too,” said Trump.
Dmitry Medvedev – The former president of Russia, Prime Minister and a longtime high -time ally of Putin – was joyful in his response to Trump’s latest remarks.
“If you had told me only three months ago that it was the words of the American president, I would have laughed aloud,” wrote Medvedev – who is now the vice -president of the Russian Security Council – A Written on X. Trump, he added: “is 200%”, describing Zelenskyy as a “bankrupt clown”.
Russian ambassador to the United Kingdom, Andrei Kelin, also celebrated the American pivot. “For the first time, we have noticed that they don’t just say that it is Russian propaganda and disinformation,” he told BBC.
“They listened to and they hear what we say,” Kelin said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to the governor of the Kamchatka territory, Vladimir Solodov, during their meeting in Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, February 17, 2025.
Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
Trump suggested this week that the long -standing desire for Ukraine to join NATO was a major cause for the invasion of Russia in 2022. The statement earned him more praise in Russia.
“He is the first, and so far, in my opinion, the only Western leader who has declared publicly and strong that one of the profound causes of the Ukrainian situation was the unager line of the previous administration to attract the Ukraine in NATO “, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, told legislators.
Like Moscow, Trump and his domestic allies seem to present Zelenskyy as a key obstacle to peace.
Vice-President JD Vance said that Trump’s Ukrainian leader’s “badmouing” was an “atrocious” means of interacting with the administration.
“We obviously love the Ukrainian people,” he told Daily Mail. “We admire the bravery of the soldiers, but we obviously think that this war must end quickly.”
“It is the policy of the President of the United States,” said Vance. “It is not based on Russian disinformation. It is based on the fact that Donald Trump, I think, knows a lot about geopolitics and has a very strong vision and has had a strong vision for a very long time.”
Trump Steve Bannon’s confidant told the Italian Repubblica newspaper that he thought that Zelenskyy was “finished”.
“Of course, if he decides to accept the terms of the agreement with Russia, he will be welcome, but he no longer has the power to dictate them,” said Bannon.
The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, gave a press conference in kyiv on February 19, 2025, in the middle of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Tetiana dzhafaova / Pool / AFP via Getty Images
Russian officials, on the other hand, also designed Kyiv as a key obstacle to peace.
“The Ukrainian part is practically ready to use any tool which will aim to stop or prevent dialogue and prevent the search for a scenario of a political and diplomatic settlement,” said Rodion Miroshnik, Ambassador of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Foreign Affairs Russia, Rodion said on state television on Thursday, quoted by the TTASS news agency managed by the state.
Several of Kyiv European partners, on the other hand, expressed a deep concern in the face of the latest developments.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer “underlined the need for everyone to work together”, in a statement, expressing “his support for President Zelenskyy as the chief of democratically elected Ukraine”. Starmer said it was “perfectly reasonable to suspend the elections during the war as the United Kingdom during the Second World War”.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said it was “simply false and dangerous to deny the democratic legitimacy of President Zelenskyy”.
Molly Nagle and Patrick Reell by ABC News contributed to this report.
