LONDON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned President Donald Trump is in a “disinformation area” as public recriminations between the 2 leaders deepened on Wednesday amid nascent talks to finish Russia’s three-year-old full-scale invasion of its neighbor.
The collection of assaults, Zelenskyy urged, had been knowledgeable partially by “disinformation,” which the Ukrainian president mentioned “comes from Russia — and we’ve got proof.”
Trump referred to as Zelenskyy a “dictator with out elections,” claiming — with out offering proof — that his Ukrainian counterpart’s approval score was as little as 4%. Trump additionally wrote on Reality Social that Zelenskyy “higher transfer quick or he’s not going to have a Nation left.”
Trump’s obvious push for brand spanking new elections in Ukraine aligns with longstanding Kremlin speaking factors framing Zelenskyy as an “illegitimate” chief unsuitable for peace talks.
President Donald Trump in Washington, Feb. 13, 2025, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Munich, Feb. 15, 2025 and Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, Russia, Feb. 19, 2025.
Getty Photos/AP
Ukraine’s newest presidential election was scheduled to be held in 2024, however was postponed resulting from Russia’s conflict on the nation. Ukraine’s structure stipulates that elections can’t be held underneath martial legislation, which was launched inside hours of Moscow’s February 2022 invasion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to weaponize the delay to undermine Kyiv. “You possibly can negotiate with anybody, however due to his illegitimacy, he has no proper to signal something,” Putin mentioned of Zelenskyy in January.
The nation’s parliament and its speaker “stay the one official authorities in Ukraine,” Putin declared in Might 2024, the month that was presupposed to mark the top of Zelenskyy’s time period.
Trump’s broadside in opposition to Zelenskyy included a name for brand spanking new elections, regardless of the continued conflict. “That is not a Russia factor, that is one thing coming from me and coming from many different nations additionally,” Trump mentioned.
Dmitry Medvedev — Russia’s former president, prime minister and a longstanding prime ally of Putin — was gleeful in his response to Trump’s most up-to-date remarks.
“When you’d instructed me simply three months in the past that these had been the phrases of the US president, I’d have laughed out loud,” Medvedev — who’s now the deputy chairman of Russia’s safety council — wrote on X. Trump, he added, “is 200 % proper,” describing Zelenskyy as a “bankrupt clown.”
Russia’s ambassador to the U.Okay., Andrei Kelin, additionally celebrated the U.S. pivot. “For the primary time we’ve got observed that they aren’t merely saying that that is Russian propaganda and disinformation,” he instructed the BBC.
“They’ve listened and so they hear what we’re saying,” Kelin mentioned.
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Kamchatka Territory Governor Vladimir Solodov throughout their assembly on the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 17, 2025.
Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Picture through AP
Trump urged this week that Ukraine’s long-time need to hitch NATO was a serious trigger for Russia’s 2022 invasion. The assertion gained him extra reward in Russia.
“He’s the primary, and up to now, for my part, the one Western chief who has publicly and loudly mentioned that one of many root causes of the Ukrainian state of affairs was the impudent line of the earlier administration to attract Ukraine into NATO,” Russian Overseas Minister Sergei Lavrov instructed lawmakers.
Like Moscow, Trump and his home allies look like presenting Zelenskyy as a key obstacle to peace.
Vice President JD Vance mentioned the Ukrainian chief’s “badmouthing” of Trump was an “atrocious” technique to work together with the administration.
“We clearly love the Ukrainian individuals,” he instructed the Each day Mail. “We admire the bravery of the troopers, however we clearly assume that this conflict wants to come back to a speedy shut.”
“That’s the coverage of the President of america,” Vance mentioned. “It’s not primarily based on Russian disinformation. It is primarily based on the truth that Donald Trump, I feel, is aware of lots about geopolitics and has a really sturdy view, and has had a powerful view for a really very long time.”
Trump confidante Steve Bannon, in the meantime, instructed Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper he believed Zelenskyy is “completed.”
“After all, if he decides to just accept the phrases of the settlement with Russia, he will probably be welcome, however he not has the ability to dictate them,” Bannon mentioned.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offers a press convention in Kyiv on Feb. 19, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Tetiana Dzhafarova/POOL/AFP through Getty Photos
Russian officers, in the meantime, additionally framed Kyiv as the important thing obstacle to peace.
“The Ukrainian aspect is virtually prepared to make use of any software that will probably be aimed toward stopping or stopping dialogue and stopping the seek for a situation for a political and diplomatic settlement,” Rodion Miroshnik, an ambassador-at-large for Russia’s Overseas Ministry, instructed state tv on Thursday, as quoted by Russia’s state-run Tass information company.
A number of of Kyiv’s European companions, in the meantime, expressed deep concern over the the most recent developments.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer “careworn the necessity for everybody to work collectively,” in a press release, expressing “his assist for President Zelenskyy as Ukraine’s democratically elected chief.” Starmer mentioned it was “completely cheap to droop elections throughout conflict time because the U.Okay. did throughout World Battle II.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz mentioned it was “merely incorrect and harmful to disclaim President Zelenskyy democratic legitimacy.”
ABC Information’ Molly Nagle and Patrick Reevell contributed to this report.
