KYIV (TIP): Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused U.S. President Donald Trump on Feb 19 of living in a Russian-made “disinformation space,” pointed comments that risk further souring relations with Washington as the American leader pushes for an end to the war.
Zelensky said he “would like Trump’s team to be more truthful” in his first response to a series of striking claims the U.S. president made the previous day, including suggesting that Kyiv was to blame for the war, which enters its fourth year next week.
Russia’s army crossed the border on Feb. 24, 2022, in an all-out invasion that Putin sought to justify by saying it was needed to protect civilians in eastern Ukraine and prevent the country from joining NATO. Ukraine and its allies denounced it as an unprovoked act of aggression.
The comments from Trump and Zelensky were a remarkable back-and-forth between leaders of two countries that have been staunch allies in recent years under Trump’s predecessor, as the U.S. provided crucial military equipment to Kyiv to fend off the invasion and used its political weight to defend Ukraine and isolate Russia on the world stage.
The Trump administration has started charting a new course, reaching out to Russia and pushing for a peace deal. Zelensky spoke shortly before he was expected to meet with Keith Kellogg, the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine and Russia as part of the administration’s recent diplomatic blitz.
Ukraine and its European supporters have expressed concern that they weren’t invited to the talks between top American and Russian diplomats in Saudi Arabia — amid larger worries that the deal taking shape could be unfavorable to Kyiv.
At a news conference Tuesday, Trump showed little patience for Ukraine’s objections to being excluded from the talks. He also said, without providing the source, that Zelensky’s approval rating stood at 4%, while telling reporters that Ukraine “should have never started” the war and “could have made a deal” to prevent it.
Zelensky replied in his own news conference Wednesday that “we have seen this disinformation. We understand that it is coming from Russia.” He said that Trump “lives in this disinformation space.”
Zelensky said he hoped Kellogg would walk through Kyiv and “ask (Ukrainians) if they trust their president? Do they trust Putin? Let him ask about Trump, what they think after the statements made by their president.”
Russian state TV and other state-controlled media reacted with glee to what they portrayed as Trump’s cold shoulder to Zelensky.
“Trump isn’t even trying to hide his irritation with Zelensky,” the Rossiya channel said at the top of its newscast.
“Trump steamrolled Zelensky for his complaints about the talks with Russia,” the daily Komsomolskaya Pravda said.
Trump also suggested Ukraine ought to hold elections, which have been postponed due to the war and the consequent imposition of martial law, in accordance with the Ukrainian Constitution.
Zelensky also referred to “the story” that 90% of all aid received by Ukraine comes from the United States.
He said that, for instance, about 34% of all weapons in Ukraine are domestically produced and over 30% of support comes from Europe. (AP)