'A dictator without elections': Donald Trump slams Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Miami/IBNS: US President Donald Trump Wednesday called Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "dictator", deepening the personal rift that will have major implications for the effort 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 Trump assumed office, he has opened talks with Moscow.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said: "Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 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, but a War that he, without the U.S. and “TRUMP,” will never be able to settle."
"A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left," Trump wrote of the Ukrainian leader, whose five-year term expired last year.
Ukrainian law does not require elections during wartime.
On Tuesday Trump held a press conference in which he slammed Zelenskyy, and made comments aligned to Kremlin narratives about the conflict and called for an end to the war.
Zelenskyy in turn accused Trump of succumbing to Russian "disinformation," including Trump blaming Kyiv for having "started" the war and echoing Kremlin questions over Zelenskyy's legitimacy.
In his post, Trump said: "He (Zelenskyy) refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden “like a fiddle.”
"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. 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.
Zelenskyy was elected in 2019 for a five-year term but has remained the President under martial law that was imposed following the Russian invasion.
The much-anticipated meeting between Russia and the United States to end the Ukraine war concluded in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday evening (Riyadh time).
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke to the international press immediately after the top-level meeting.
"Today is the first step of a long and difficult journey - but an important one," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in his opening remarks.
"The goal is an agreement that is acceptable to everyone involved in it - and that obviously includes Ukraine, but also our partners in Europe, and, of course, the Russian side as well."
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