Photo Credit: Doug Mills/The New York Times
As tensions escalated between them, US President Donald Trump warned Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky that a deal with Russia to end the three-year Ukraine war could be reached without his involvement.
Posting on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump wrote, “Zelensky better move fast or he is not going to have a country left.”
“We are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only ‘TRUMP’, and the Trump Administration, can do,” he further added.
Zelensky criticized Ukraine’s exclusion from US-Russia talks in Riyadh, prompting Trump’s warning. The Ukrainian president also stated that his country would not accept any peace deal made without its participation.
In a sharp rebuke, Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv that Trump was ‘living in a web of disinformation’.
Trump responded by calling Zelensky a ‘dictator without elections’.
Accusations Of Trump Against Ukraine
Previously, Trump had accused Ukraine of starting the war, despite Russia being the aggressor.
His ‘dictator’ remark referred to Ukraine’s decision not to hold elections last year due to the war, even after Zelensky’s five-year term ended.
As a key financier of Ukraine’s defense efforts, Trump appears to believe he could independently push Kyiv toward a settlement negotiated with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met for over four hours on Tuesday to discuss ending the war.
Both sides reported progress, with Rubio noting that Russia was ready for ‘a serious process’ to bring a swift resolution, while Lavrov called the discussions ‘useful’.
The talks produced a side agreement to fully restore diplomatic operations at their respective embassies after scaling them down.
In his Truth Social post, Trump also criticized the financial burden borne by the US in supporting Ukraine.
“Zelensky talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the US and ‘TRUMP’, will never be able to settle,” the US President noted.
Trump argued that since European nations are geographically closer to Ukraine, their financial contributions should match those of the US.
He also criticized Joe Biden, claiming that Zelensky ‘played him like a fiddle’ and that Biden made no effort to pursue peace.
Currently, Russia controls about 20% of Ukraine’s territory, while Ukraine has made only minor territorial gains near Kursk.
US Defence Minister Pete Hegseth stated that restoring pre-2014 borders—before Russia annexed Crimea—remains unrealistic.
He also dismissed the possibility of NATO membership for Ukraine.
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