On Wednesday, President Donald Trump lashed out at the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a “dictator without elections” after the U.S. left Ukraine out of initial peace talks with Russia this week.
Trump wrote on TRUTH Social, “A Dictator without Elections, 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.”
He added, “I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died – And so it continues…..”
Trump’s comments came 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.
After canceling a trip to Saudi Arabia, where Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, and Special Envoy Ambassador Steve Witkoff held talks with Russian counterparts to begin negotiating the end of the war in Ukraine, Zelenskyy criticized Trump earlier Wednesday in remarks to reporters in Kyiv.
He said: “Unfortunately, President Trump – I have great respect for him as a leader of a nation that we have great respect for, the American people who always support us – unfortunately lives in this disinformation space.”
Elections in Ukraine have been delayed by a year due to Zelenskyy’s first five-year term, and the United States and Russia agree that Ukrainians must go to the polls to decide their next head of state. Zelenskyy’s term in office was supposed to end in May 2024, with elections originally slated for April 2024. However, the Ukrainian constitution prohibits holding elections under martial law. The president’s aides said elections will not be held at the end of the martial law.
Russia has maintained it will not sign a peace agreement until Ukraine agrees to hold elections, and the U.S. is now “floating” the idea of a three-stage plan: ceasefire, then Ukrainian elections, then inking of a peace deal.
