Trump brands Zelensky a 'dictator' in bitter clash
US President Donald Trump called Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky a "dictator" Wednesday, widening a personal rift with major implications for efforts to end the conflict triggered by Russia's invasion three years ago.
The United States has provided essential funding and arms to Ukraine, but Trump made an abrupt policy shift by opening talks with Moscow just weeks after he returned to the White House.
"A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Zelensky was elected in 2019 for a five-year term and has remained leader under martial law imposed as his country fights for its survival.
Trump savaged Zelensky, saying "he refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing (Joe) 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."
Zelensky's popularity has fallen, but the percentage of Ukrainians who trust him has never dipped below 50 percent since the conflict started, according to the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS).
- Shock at Trump attack -
Under Biden, the United States had lauded Zelensky as a hero and hammered Moscow with sanctions as Ukraine battled against advancing Russian soldiers.
But Trump held a press conference on Tuesday in which he tore into the Ukrainian leader and repeated Kremlin narratives such as the claim that Ukraine started the war.
Trump's invective drew shock from Europe where German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said it was "wrong and dangerous" to call Zelensky a dictator.
In Washington, Trump's former vice president Mike Pence also issued a stinging rebuke.
"Mr. President, Ukraine did not 'start' this war. Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives," he wrote on X.
Zelensky reacted to Trump's attacks by accusing him of succumbing to Russian "disinformation."
"I believe that the United States helped (Vladimir) Putin to break out of years of isolation," he added, in some of his sharpest criticism yet of the new US administration.
And in Ukraine, Trump's rhetoric was greeted by disbelief.
"Blaming Ukraine for starting the war is some kind of absurdity. As Ukrainians, we cannot understand this," soldier Ivan Banias told AFP on the freezing streets of Kyiv.
In contrast, Putin hailed progress in talks with the United States.
The Russian leader also claimed his troops had crossed into Ukraine's northeastern Sumy region -- a first ground attack there since 2022 -- but Kyiv swiftly denied the claim.
Both sides are trying to improve their situation on the battlefield amid Trump's push for a ceasefire.
- Moscow buoyed -
Moscow has been buoyed by Tuesday's talks in Saudi Arabia and Trump's attacks on Zelensky.
The talks "made the first step to restore work in various areas of mutual interests," Putin told journalists while visiting a drone manufacturing plant in his native Saint Petersburg.
Kyiv was not invited to the Riyadh talks as Moscow and Washington moved to sideline both Ukraine and Europe.
Putin said that the United States' allies "only have themselves to blame for what's happening," suggesting they were paying the price for opposing Trump's return to the White House.
Tensions between Zelensky and Trump over the new US position on the war had been building for weeks, before bursting into the open.
But Zelensky sought to take a positive approach ahead of meeting Trump's special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, in Kyiv on Thursday.
"It is very important for us that the meeting and our work with America in general be constructive," Zelensky said, while adding, "it is a choice for everyone in the world -- and for the powerful -- to be with Putin or with peace."
Russia, which for years has railed against the US military presence in Europe, wants a reorganization of the continent's security framework as part of any deal to end the Ukraine fighting.
Putin on Wednesday said that Russia and the United States needed to work with each other if talks were to be successful.
"It is impossible to solve many issues, including the Ukrainian crisis, without increasing the level of trust between Russia and the United States," he said.
burs/spm/bgs/bjt
G.Svensson--RTC
