Ukraine’s president is fighting a war on two fronts – against Russian forces on the ground and against American assaults over the airwaves
Ukraine’s president appears to be fighting a war on two fronts – against Russian forces on the ground and against American assaults over the airwaves.
View from Ukraine by Deborah Haynes, security and defence editor
With Donald Trump openly attacking him, Ukraine’s president is dispensing with the diplomatic niceties towards a crucial partner and is instead fighting back.
It is a risky move given the heavy reliance of Volodymyr Zelenskyy on American military support to fight Russia’s invasion and the US leader’s dislike of criticism.
But the past week of disruptive, strongman diplomacy from the White House – upending traditional assumptions about US support for European and Ukrainian security – has clearly been too much for Kyiv to stomach without speaking back, and bluntly.
Mr Zelenskyy used a press conference inside the presidential compound on Wednesday to say the American commander in chief is surrounded by a circle of disinformation after Mr Trump falsely claimed Ukraine was to blame for Russia’s war and that Mr Zelenskyy has a public approval rating of just 4%.
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Trump living in ‘disinformation space’
The US president is pushing for elections in Ukraine – something that would be very difficult to conduct while the country is still under Russian missile and drone attack and with hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fighting on the frontline.
Mr Zelenskyy said the most recent surveys showed 57% of the population supported him – a similar rating to Mr Trump.
He also issued his strongest criticism yet of an attempt by the Trump administration to make Kyiv sign away half of the wealth it has from rare minerals and other natural resources – equal in value to about $500bn.
Mr Zelenskyy said he could not “sell our state”, adding this was not a “serious” conversation.
But he knows that he does need to have serious dialogue with Washington even after President Trump picked up the phone to Vladimir Putin a week ago, kicking off a thawing of ties between Moscow and Washington that led to a meeting of top US and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and plans for a summit between the American and Russian presidents.
A first step will be engaging with Keith Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general currently Mr Trump’s envoy to Ukraine and Russia, who arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday morning – though was curiously absent from the Saudi Arabia talks despite his job title.
Ukraine’s president said he will talk with Mr Kellogg and would like to take him to visit the frontline and speak to soldiers to understand their view, while also talking to members of the public in the capital to hear what they have to say about the war, Mr Zelenskyy’s efforts and also the comments by Mr Trump.
The envoy, speaking to a small group of journalists when he stepped on the train, said he was there to listen and report back to Mr Trump.
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US ‘will listen’ to Kyiv’s concerns
Asked how confident he was that he would be able to bring Mr Zelenskyy to the negotiating table, Mr Kellogg said: “I’m always confident.”
The coming days will tell whether that confidence is well placed.
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View from Russia by Ivor Bennett, Moscow correspondent
Volodymyr Zelenskyy had the appearance of a beleaguered leader who knows he is now fighting a war on two fronts – against Russian forces on the ground and against American assaults over the airwaves.
Ukraine’s leader looked almost shell-shocked from Donald Trump’s verbal volleys last night, in which the US president accused Kyiv of starting the war.
President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday. Pic: Reuters
What has been Ukraine’s biggest supporter now suddenly poses an existential threat. But for now, Mr Zelenskyy is fighting back.
He accused Mr Trump of being “trapped in a disinformation bubble” – that he has not just drunk the Kremlin’s Kool-Aid, but is now bathing in it.
He pushed back on Mr Trump’s spurious claims of only having a 4% approval rating, calling it propaganda from Russia. Moscow has repeatedly tried to portray Mr Zelenskyy as an illegitimate leader, due to his term expiring under martial law.
In reality, his numbers are similar to Mr Trump’s, which should resonate with a man who became obsessed with TV ratings during his first term.
But it seems that facts do not always matter now to the White House.
And he was extremely dismissive – to the point of ridicule, almost – of the proposed US/Ukraine mineral deal.
“Not a serious conversation”, he said, rejecting Mr Trump’s business-first approach. Mr Zelenskyy still wants the focus on Ukraine’s scorched earth, not rare earths.
His messages and manner are in stark contrast to those of Vladimir Putin.
Ever since the US election in November, the Russian president has sought to flatter Mr Trump, sympathise with him and be deferential, even when responding to barbs.
And in Riyadh yesterday, Moscow began reaping the rewards.
But Mr Zelenskyy’s position is different, of course. Once the man of the moment, he’s now struggling to stay relevant – in danger of being run down by the Donald Trump deal-making juggernaut.
For now, he’s standing in the road trying to stop it. But any hope that it will change course or hit the brakes may be misplaced.
Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump he “will not back down” from Russia’s goals in Ukraine during a phone call today, the Kremlin has said.
The Russian president spoke to his US counterpart for almost an hour, and Mr Trump “again raised the issue of an early end to military action” in Ukraine, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.
In response, Mr Putin said “Russia will not back down” from its aims there, which include “the elimination of the well-known root causes that led to the current state of affairs,” Mr Ushakov said.
The phrase “root causes” is shorthand for Moscow’s argument that it was compelled to invade Ukraine in order to prevent the country from joining NATO.
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Trump and Putin’s latest call on Ukraine
Ukraine and its European allies say this is a pretext to justify what they call an imperial-style war, but Mr Trump has previously shown sympathy with Russia.
At the same time, Mr Putin told the US president that Russia is ready to continue negotiating, the aide said.
The Russian president said any prospective peace deal must see Ukraine give up its NATO bid and recognise his country’s territorial gains.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, seen with Mr Trump in June, is pushing for Ukraine to join NATO. Pic: Reuters
He also briefed Mr Trump on agreements made last month, which saw Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners of war and dead soldiers.
Specific dates for the third round of peace talks in Istanbul were not discussed – nor was the US decision to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine.
Mr Putin and Mr Trump’s call came after the Pentagon confirmed some weapons due to be sent to Ukraine have been held as it reviews military stockpiles.
The paused shipments include air defence missiles and precision-guided artillery, two people familiar with the situation have said.
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The decision led to Ukraine calling in the acting US envoy to Kyiv on Wednesday to underline the importance of military aid from Washington.
Kyiv also cautioned that the move would weaken Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against intensifying Russian airstrikes and battlefield advances.
Mr Putin and Mr Trump’s phone call was the sixth they have publicly disclosed since the US president returned to the White House in January.
Donald Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ has been passed by the US congress, sending it to the president to sign into law.
The controversial tax breaks and spending cuts package cleared its final hurdle as the Republican-controlled House of Representatives narrowly approved the bill with a 218-214 vote.
The bill delivers tax breaks Mr Trump promised in his 2024 election campaign, cuts health and food safety programmes, and zeroes out dozens of green energy incentives.
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), it will lower tax revenues by $4.5trn over 10 years and add $3.4trn to the US’s $36.2trn debt.
But despite concerns over the 869-page bill’s price tag – and its hit to healthcare programmes – Republicans largely lined up in support, with just two rebelling on the vote.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is congratulated following the vote. Pic: Reuters
Every Democrat in Congress voted against the bill, blasting it as a giveaway to the wealthy that will leave millions of Americans uninsured.
House Speaker Mike Johnson made the Republicans’ closing argument for the bill, telling Congress: “For everyday Americans, this means real, positive change that they can feel.”
Earlier, the House’s Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries gave a record-breaking eight-hour and 44-minute speech against it.
“The focus of this bill, the justification for all of the cuts that will hurt everyday Americans, is to provide massive tax breaks for billionaires,” he said.
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The bill’s spending cuts largely target Medicaid, the health programme that covers 71 million Americans on low incomes.
It will tighten enrolment standards, institute a work requirement and clamp down on a funding mechanism used by states to boost federal payments.
The changes could leave nearly 12 million people without health insurance, according to the CBO.
On the other side of the ledger, it will stave off tax increases that were due to hit most Americans at the end of the year, when tax cuts from President Trump’s first term were due to expire.
It also sets up new tax breaks for overtime pay, seniors and tipped income.
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The bill narrowly passed the US Senate on Tuesday after vice president JD Vance cast the deciding vote to break a 50-50 tie.
Mr Trump will sign it into law on Friday at 5pm local time (10pm in the UK), the White House said.
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