Trump brands Zelensky ‘a dictator’

US President Donald Trump called Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator” on Wednesday, widening a personal rift with major implications for efforts to end the conflict triggered by Russia’s invasion three years ago.

The United States had provided funding and arms to Ukraine but, in an abrupt policy shift since coming to power, Trump has opened talks with Moscow.

“A dictator without elections, Zelensky better move fast or he is not going to have a country left,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform of the Ukrainian leader, whose five-year term expired last year.

“He refuses to have elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing [Joe] Biden ‘like a fiddle’,” said Trump in his post.

“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,” Trump wrote in the post.

Zelensky was elected in 2019 for a five-year term, but has remained leader under martial law imposed following the Russian invasion.

His popularity has eroded, but the percentage of Ukrainians who trust him has never dipped below 50 per cent since the conflict started, according to the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS).

Trump has effectively blamed Zelensky for Russia’s invasion, as French President Emmanuel Macron prepares for another round of talks with EU and non-European partners on Wednesday.

Zelensky previously criticised the US-Russia talks for excluding Kyiv, saying efforts to end the war must be “fair” and involve European countries. The Ukrainian leader’s comments appeared to incense Trump, who launched a series of verbal attacks on Zelensky.

“I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Tuesday.

“Today I heard, ‘oh, well, we weren’t invited’. Well, you’ve been there for three years … You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”

Trump also suggested he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month in Saudi Arabia as he overhauls Washington’s stance towards Moscow — a shift that has alarmed European leaders.

Earlier on Tuesday, Russia and the United States had agreed to establish teams to negotiate a path to ending the war in Ukraine after talks that drew a strong rebuke from Kyiv, with Zelensky postponing his own trip to Saudi Arabia.

France’s Macron announced another meeting in Paris on Ukraine after the US-Russia talks, adding that Trump “can restart a useful dialogue” with Putin.

Trump also increased pressure on Zelensky to hold elections — echoing one of Moscow’s key demands.

‘No one but Putin’ wanted Ukraine war, says German foreign minister
Germany said on Wednesday that it was Putin who launched the Ukraine war, contradicting Trump’s claim that Kyiv had “started” the fighting.

“No one but Putin started or wanted this war in the heart of Europe,” said Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in a statement, adding that “we are working with all our might to further strengthen Ukraine”.

She said “We are at an existential waypoint for security and peace in Europe” and that the goal is “achieving lasting peace for Ukraine – safe and protected from future Russian aggression”.

Baerbock said that any “false peace … would only give Russia a respite for new military campaigns”.

Regarding the fast-moving events since Trump spoke directly with Putin about ending the conflict, she said that “we must not allow ourselves to be confused” and “keep a cool head”.

Downplaying Europe’s role in Ukraine “only plays into the hands” of Russia, she said. “I therefore advocate acting confidently towards the US administration.”

Trump wants Ukraine election
Asked whether the United States would support demands that Russia wanted to force Zelensky to hold new elections as part of any deal, Trump began by criticising what he said were the Ukrainian’s approval ratings.

“They want a seat at the table, but you could say … wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since we’ve had an election,” said Trump.

“That’s not a Russian thing, that’s something coming from me, from other countries.”

Zelensky was elected in 2019 for a five-year term, but has remained in office as Ukraine is still under martial law.

Trump’s latest remarks are unlikely to allay fears among some European leaders, already worried that Washington will make serious concessions to Moscow and re-write the continent’s security arrangement in a Cold War-style deal.

Washington noted that European nations would have to have a seat at the negotiating table “at some point”.

The US-Russia talks — the first high-level official talks between the two countries since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine — drew a fiery response from Kyiv.

“This will only be feeding Putin’s appetite,” a Ukrainian senior official requesting anonymity told AFP, referring to the launch of talks without Ukraine.

Trump for his part said he was “much more confident” of a deal after the Riyadh talks, telling reporters on Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago estate: “I think I have the power to end this war.”

Zelensky says Trump living in Russian ‘disinformation space’
Responding to scathing comments by Trump that Zelensky’s popularity rating is 4pc, Zelensky said the US president was living in a Russian “disinformation space”.

“Unfortunately, President Trump, who we have great respect for as leader of the American people … lives in this disinformation space,” Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv, accusing Moscow of misleading Trump.

Calling for presidential elections in Ukraine, which are banned under martial law, Trump said on Tuesday of Zelensky: “He’s down at 4pc approval rating”. Zelensky said the figure “comes from Russia”.

A telephone poll of 1,000 people by the respected Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, published on Wednesday, found that 57pc of respondents trusted Zelensky, while 37pc said they did not and the rest were undecided.

Russia praises Trump for saying Nato major cause of war in Ukraine
In a related development, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov lauded Trump on Wednesday for saying that previous US support of Ukraine’s bid to join the Nato military alliance was a major cause of the war in Ukraine.

Trump has said that he saw no way that Russia could have allowed Ukraine to join Nato, and blamed former Democratic president Joe Biden for allegedly changing the US position on Nato membership for Ukraine.

“He is the first, and so far, in my opinion, the only Western leader who has publicly and loudly said that one of the root causes of the Ukrainian situation was the impudent line of the previous administration to draw Ukraine into Nato,” Lavrov told lawmakers.

“No Western leaders had ever said that, but he had said it several times. This is already a signal that he understands our position when President [Vladimir] Putin,” Lavrov said.

Amid talks with the US in Riyadh on Tuesday, Russia demanded Nato scrap its 2008 promise to one day give Ukraine membership of the US-led alliance and dismissed the idea that Nato member forces could be keepers of the peace under some sort of ceasefire deal.

‘Heard each other’
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian FM Lavrov agreed to “appoint respective high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible”, the State Department said.

Washington added that the sides had also agreed to “establish a consultation mechanism” to address “irritants” to the US-Russia relationship, noting the sides would lay the groundwork for future cooperation.

Riyadh marks a diplomatic coup for Moscow, which had been isolated for three years under the previous US administration of Joe Biden.

Moscow’s economic negotiator, Kirill Dmitriev, said Western attempts to isolate Russia had “obviously failed”.

“We did not just listen but heard each other, and I have reason to believe the American side has better understood our position,” Lavrov told reporters.

The veteran diplomat noted that Russia opposed any deployment of Nato-nation troops to Ukraine as part of an eventual ceasefire.

European allies publicly diverged this week over whether they would be open to sending truce peacekeepers to Ukraine.

Macron, in an interview with French regional newspapers, appeared open to the idea of sending troops to Ukraine but only in the most limited fashion and away from conflict zones.

He said new talks would take place “with several European and non-European states”, after an emergency meeting on Monday in Paris which brought together a small number of key European countries.

Moscow has long called for the withdrawal of Nato forces from eastern Europe, viewing the alliance as an existential threat on its flank.

The Kremlin on Tuesday said Ukraine had the right to join the European Union, but not the Nato military alliance. It also said Putin was “ready” to negotiate with Zelensky “if necessary”.