Donald Trump-Volodymyr Zelensky tensions: US President Donald on Friday intensified his attacks on his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, saying he doesn’t consider it essential for the latter to be present at negotiations aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war.
Speaking to Fox News, Donald Trump said he had “good talks” with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin but not with Ukraine as the US pushes negotiations to end the three-year conflict.
However, later, the US President claimed that Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin will have to “get together” to end the war between Moscow and Kyiv.
Trump’s comments marked a shift from criticising Zelensky as a “dictator with elections” after the Ukrainian president complained that his country – invaded by Russia in 2022 – had been left out of talks between US and Russian officials.
“I don’t think he’s very important to be in meetings,” Trump said in an audio interview with Fox News. “He has been there for three years. He makes it very hard to make deals,” the US president added.
Trump even went on to say that Ukrainian leaders “don’t have any cards” in the talks.
“I have had very good talks with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, and I have had not such good talks with Ukraine. They don’t have any cards, but they play it tough. But we are not going to let this continue,” Trump told a gathering of US governors at the White House on Friday.
Russian and top diplomats met in Saudi Arabia earlier this week to talk about a ceasefire and Ukraine was not invited.
Donald Trump-Volodymyr Zelensky tensions
Trump’s tension with the Ukraine’s president soared further when the Republican president branded Zelensky a “dictator” and falsely claimed Ukraine had “started” the war.
“He complains that he’s not in a meeting that we are having with Saudi Arabia trying to intermediate peace,” Trump said in his interview Friday, adding that Zelensky had been in a meeting for three years and “nothing got done”.
Speaking to the reporters at the White House, Trump said Kyiv would “hopefully in the next fairly short period of time” sign a deal handing Washington preferential access to Ukraine’s mineral deposits.
“They are very brave, in every way you can imagine. But we are spending our treasure on some country that’s very, very far away,” Trump said of Ukraine.
Trump wants Ukraine to give US companies access to its vast natural resources as compensation for the tens of billions of dollars of aid delivered under his predecessor Joe Biden, news agency AFP reported.
In return, Ukraine is seeking security guarantees from the United States for signing away the precious rights. Zelensky – who had rejected the agreement – said on Friday he hoped for a “fair result”, the report added.
Donald Trump slams Emmanuel Macron, Keir Starmer
Donald Trump also hit out at French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer – who are both due at the White House next week for potentially tricky discussions – for allegedly doing nothing to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
Macron said on Friday he would tell Trump that “you can’t be weak with President Putin”.
“They haven’t done anything. Macron is a friend of mine, and I have met with the Prime Minister and he’s a very nice guy (but) nobody’s done anything,” Trump said.
Keir Starmer has faced pressure to take a firm line with Trump on support for Ukraine when he visits. On Friday, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey accused Trump of plotting a “stitch-up” with Russian President Vladimir Putin that “amounts to a betrayal of Ukraine” and urged the Prime Minister to speak “honestly and openly” with him, PA Media reported.
(With inputs from AFP, PA Media)
