Donald Trump hits back at ‘terrible’ Volodymyr Zelenskyy and calls him a ‘dictator’ amid US-Russia talks
Donald Trump has said Volodymyr Zelenskyy “better move fast or he is not going to have a country left” as peace talks between the US and Russia continue – without Ukraine at the table.
Officials from the White House and the Kremlin have this week begun holding discussions in Saudi Arabia.
The decision for the talks to take place without representatives from Kyiv or Europe has caused concern, and sparked an emergency meeting of European leaders in France earlier this week.
Mr Trump’s latest comments – in which he also calls Mr Zelenskyy “a dictator without elections” – come after the Ukrainian president accused him of living in a Russian-made “disinformation space” as a result of his administration’s discussions with Kremlin officials.
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Trump living in ‘disinformation space’
Ukraine latest: Follow updates as Putin makes peace talks claim
In a post on his social media platform TruthSocial, the US president said Mr Zelenskyy had “talked the United States of America into spending $350 billion dollars, to go into a war that couldn’t be won, that never had to start”.
“The only thing he was good at was playing Biden ‘like a fiddle’,” he added.
Mr Trump continued: “Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a country left.
“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.
“Biden never tried, Europe has failed to bring peace, and Zelenskyy probably wants to keep the ‘gravy train’ going.”
“I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died – And so it continues,” he wrote.
Mr Trump later repeated his comments in a rambling speech to a Saudi-run investment forum in Miami.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. Pic: Reuters
Top end estimates suggest hundreds of thousands of people, most of them soldiers, have died in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Millions of Ukrainians have fled their country as refugees.
Mr Trump also repeated his claim that the Ukrainian president has low approval ratings – which has already been dismissed by Mr Zelenskyy as Russian disinformation – and claimed American aid money had been misused.
The latest poll, carried out by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in early February, found 57% of Ukrainians trust their leader.
Ukraine’s general election, scheduled for April 2024, were delayed because of Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
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Trump, Zelenskyy and Putin: Who said what?
Speaking after Mr Trump’s comments, Mr Zelenskyy called for pragmatism from the US.
He said in his nightly address: “We are standing strong on our own two feet. I am counting on Ukrainian unity, our courage… on the unity of Europe and the pragmatism of America.”
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the US president labelling Mr Zelenskyy a “dictator” is “false and dangerous”, German newspaper Spiegel reported.
“It is simply wrong and dangerous to deny President Zelenskyy his democratic legitimacy,” Mr Scholz said.
Putin: ‘No one is excluding Ukraine from talks’
Mr Trump’s latest post comes after Vladimir Putin insisted Kyiv could have a seat at the negotiating table.
The Russian president said earlier on Wednesday: “No one is excluding Ukraine from peace talks.”
“We are ready, I have already said this a hundred times – if they want, please let these negotiations take place and we will be ready to return to the table,” he said.
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Putin says America is ‘open to negotiation’
Referencing Mr Zelenskyy’s 2022 decree that rejected talks with Moscow, he added: “The Europeans have stopped contacts with Russia. The Ukrainian side has forbidden itself to negotiate.”
According to the Russian leader, the “goal and subject” of Tuesday’s talks in Saudi Arabia “was the restoration of Russia-US relations”.
Mr Zelenskyy is expected to meet later with Keith Kellogg, the US special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, who arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday.
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Russia launches assault on Odesa
Overnight, Russian forces launched a drone attack on Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odesa, injuring four people including a child, Mr Zelenskyy said.
At least 160,000 people were left without heating in sub-zero temperatures, he added.
Residents stand at the site of an Odesa clinic hit by the strike. Pic: Reuters
“Rescue operations are under way in Odesa after another Russian attack on the energy infrastructure,” Mr Zelenskyy said on the Telegram app.
“It is civilian energy facilities against which the Russian army has not spared neither missiles nor attack drones for almost three years.”
The United States and European Union have agreed a trade deal, says Donald Trump.
The announcement was made as the US president met European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen at one of his golf resorts in Scotland.
Speaking after talks in Turnberry, Mr Trump said the EU deal was the “biggest deal ever made” and it will be “great for cars”.
The US will impose 15% tariffs on EU goods into America, after Mr Trump had threatened a 30% levy.
He said there will be an EU investment of $600bn in the US, the bloc will buy $750bn in US energy and will also purchase US military equipment.
Mr Trump had earlier said the main sticking point was “fairness”, citing barriers to US exports of cars and agriculture.
He went into the talks demanding fairer trade with the 27-member EU and threatening steep tariffs to achieve that, while insisting the US will not go below 15% import taxes.
For months, Mr Trump has threatened most of the world with large tariffs in the hope of shrinking major US trade deficits with many key trading partners, including the EU.
Ms von der Leyen said the agreement would include 15% tariffs across the board, saying it would help rebalance trade between the two large trading partners.
In case there was no deal and the US had imposed 30% tariffs from 1 August, the EU has prepared counter-tariffs on €93bn (£81bn) of US goods.
Ahead of their meeting on Sunday, Ms von der Leyen described Mr Trump as a “tough negotiator and dealmaker”.
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At least 11 people have been stabbed at a Walmart supermarket in Michigan, with six in a critical condition.
Officials say a suspect is in custody – and at this stage, it is believed the attack was a “random act” that involved a folding-style knife near the checkout area.
Sheriff Michael Shea told reporters: “Eleven is 11 too many, but thank God it wasn’t more.”
Pic: AP
The suspect, who is from Michigan, is not known to police – and was captured within three minutes thanks to “citizen involvement”.
The attack unfolded in Traverse City – and Tiffany DeFell, who was in the car park at the time, described scenes of chaos.
“It was really scary. Me and my sister were just freaking out,” she said. “This is something you see out of the movies.”
Beyond the six people in a critical condition, it is believed the remaining five were seriously hurt. All 11 are still being treated in hospital.
Pic: AP
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said: “Our thoughts are with the victims and the community reeling from this brutal act of violence.”
A Walmart spokesperson added that the retailer is working closely with law enforcement.
“Violence like this is unacceptable. Our thoughts are with those who were injured and we’re thankful for the swift action of first responders,” a statement said.
Pic: AP
At this stage, the ages of the victims is unclear – but it is not thought any of the victims were Walmart employees.
Traverse City is about 255 miles northwest of Detroit.
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