United States President Donald Trump has urged Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy to speed up peace negotiations with Russia to end the conflict between both countries or risk losing the nation.
Trump’s advice came hours after Zelenskiy hit back at his suggestion that Ukraine was responsible for Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion, saying the U.S. president was trapped in a Russian disinformation bubble.
The US leader who labeled Zenlenskiy as a “dictator” added that he had “done a terrible job” and accused the Ukrainian president, without evidence of benefiting from continuing US financial and military support, suggesting he had an interest in prolonging the war rather than seeking its end.
“A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskiy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social media platform on Wednesday.
Reacting to Trump, Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, said no one could force his country to give in, adding “We will defend our right to exist”.
Zelenskiy’s five-year term was supposed to end in 2024 but presidential and parliamentary elections cannot be held under martial law, which Ukraine imposed in February 2022 in response to Russia’s invasion.
Zelenskiy, 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,” said Zelenskiy. The latest poll from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, from early February, says 57% of Ukrainians trust Zelenskiy.
The situation between Kyiv and Washington has taken a dramatic turn, with tensions soaring to new heights after a high-stakes meeting between senior US and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia.
This gathering, which took place yesterday, marked a significant shift in the US approach to Moscow, as the two sides discussed not only the ongoing war in Ukraine but also potential areas of economic and political cooperation.
