President Donald Trump sniped at Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky Tuesday and effectively blamed him for Moscow’s invasion — even as he said he was more confident of a deal to end the war after US-Russia talks.
Trump increased pressure on Zelensky to hold elections — echoing one of Moscow’s key demands — and chided the Ukrainian for complaining about being frozen out of talks in Saudi Arabia.
The US president also suggested that he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month as Washington overhauls its stance towards Russia in a shift that has alarmed European leaders.
“I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when asked about the Ukrainian reaction.
“Today I heard, ‘oh, well, we weren’t invited.’ Well, you’ve been there for three years… You should have never started it. You could have made a deal,” he said.
Zelensky had earlier Tuesday criticised the US-Russia talks for excluding Kyiv, saying efforts to end the war must be “fair” and involve European countries, while postponing his own trip to Saudi Arabia.
The Ukrainian leader’s comments appeared to incense Trump, who proceeded to launch a series of attacks on Zelensky, who has led Kyiv’s fight against Russia’s February 2022 invasion.
Asked whether the United States would support demands that Russia wanted to force Zelensky to hold new elections as part of any deal, Trump began by criticising what he said were the Ukrainian’s approval ratings.
“They want a seat at the table, but you could say… wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since we’ve had an election,” said Trump.
“That’s not a Russian thing, that’s something coming from me, from other countries.”
Zelensky was elected in 2019 for a five-year term, but has remained in office as Ukraine is still under martial law.
– ‘Power to end this war’ –
European leaders are increasingly fearful that Trump is giving too many concessions to Russia in his pursuit of the Ukraine deal that he promised to seal even before taking office.
But Trump insisted that his only goal was “peace” to end the largest land war in Europe since World War II.
Trump said he was “much more confident” of a deal after the talks, adding: “They were very good. Russia wants to do something. They want to stop the savage barbarianism.”
“I think I have the power to end this war, and I think it’s going very well,” Trump said.
The US leader added that he was “all for” European peacekeepers in Ukraine if he can strike a deal to end the war.
“If they want to do that, that’s great, I’m all for it,” he said.
“I know France was willing to do that, and I thought that was a beautiful gesture,” added Trump, saying that Britain had made a similar offer.
The United States would not have to contribute “because, you know, we’re very far away.”
Trump stunned the world when he announced last week that he had spoken to Putin, and that the two leaders had agreed to start peace talks and to travel to meet each other in Moscow and Washington.
The US president then said they would hold a first meeting, most likely also in Saudi Arabia.
Although no date has been announced, when asked if he would met Putin before the end of the month, Trump said “probably.”