US President Donald Trump denounced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “dictator” on Wednesday and warned he had to move quickly to secure peace or risk losing his country, deepening the recent standoff between the two leaders that has alarmed European officials.
The attacks, a day after Trump claimed Ukraine was to blame for Russia’s 2022 invasion, heightened concerns among US allies in Europe that Trump’s approach to ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict could benefit Moscow.
“A Dictator without Elections, Zelensky better move fast or he is not going to have a country left,” Trump wrote on social media.
In response, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said no one could force his country to give in.
“We will defend our right to exist,” Sybiha said on X.
Later, while speaking to investors and executives in Miami, Trump doubled down on his comments, again calling Zelensky a “dictator,” and suggesting the Ukrainian president wanted to prolong the war to “keep the gravy train going,” a reference to US military aid.
Zelensky’s five-year term was supposed to end in 2024, but elections cannot be held under martial law, which Ukraine imposed in February 2022 in response to Russia’s invasion.
Trump’s outburst followed Zelensky’s comments on Tuesday that the US president was parroting Russian disinformation when he said that Ukraine “should never have started” the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion three years ago.
Russia has seized some 20% of Ukraine and is slowly but steadily gaining territory in the east. Moscow said its “special military operation” responded to an existential threat posed by Kyiv’s pursuit of NATO membership. Ukraine and the West call Russia’s action an imperialist land grab.
The Ukrainian leader said Trump’s claim that his approval rating was just 4% was Russian disinformation and that any attempt to replace him would fail.
“We have evidence that these figures are being discussed between America and Russia. That is, President Trump … unfortunately lives in this disinformation space,” Zelensky told Ukrainian TV.
Zelensky: Trump’s claim that my approval rating is just 4% is Russian disinformation. Any attempt to replace me will fail
The latest poll from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, from early February, found 57% of Ukrainians trust Zelensky.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Ukraine would not be excluded from negotiations to end the war. Still, success would depend on raising the level of trust between Moscow and Washington.
Putin, speaking a day after Russia and the United States held their first talks on how to end the three-year conflict, also said it would take time to set up a summit with the US President, which both men have said they want, and there was “no point in meeting just to drink tea.”
He praised the outcome of Tuesday’s meeting in Saudi Arabia, where Russia and the US agreed to appoint negotiating teams on Ukraine and discussed ways to reset their bilateral relations, which the Kremlin described as “below zero” under Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden.
“In my opinion, we have taken a first step to resume work in a variety of areas that are of mutual interest,” Putin said in televised comments. These included issues relating to the Middle East, global energy markets and cooperation in space, he said.
“Without increasing the level of trust between Russia and the United States, it is impossible to resolve many issues, including the Ukrainian crisis.”
Ukraine and European governments were not invited to the talks in the Saudi capital, which heightened their concern that Russia and the United States might cut a deal that ignores their vital security interests.
But Putin said Russia had never rejected talks with the Europeans or with Kyiv, and it was they who had refused to talk to Moscow.
‘NO ONE IS EXCLUDING UKRAINE,’ PUTIN SAYS
“If they want, please, let these negotiations take place. And we will be ready to return to the table for negotiations,” he said.
“No one is excluding Ukraine,” he added, saying that there was therefore no need for a “hysterical” reaction to the US-Russia talks.
The European Union’s diplomatic service has proposed boosting the bloc’s military aid for Ukraine, aiming to show continued support for Kyiv as the United States and Russia have begun talks about ending the war.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called on his allies to honor all their promises to supply Ukraine with weapons, including those to counter Russian air attacks.
Russian forces have taken back more than 800 square km of territory from Ukraine in the Kursk region
The EU proposal, in a brief paper that was seen by Reuters, suggests each member state fulfill a financial quota based on the size of its economy to produce a package that would include 1.5 million rounds of artillery ammunition to be delivered this year.
Diplomats held initial talks on the plan – first reported by Politico – this week in Brussels, and EU foreign ministers may discuss it on Monday, diplomats said. But no decisions on the proposal are expected at that meeting, they noted.
The proposal by the EU’s External Action Service does not put an estimated value on the package, but diplomats said the aim was to come up with a plan worth billions of euros.
The proposal says the main goals of the package would be to supply at least 1.5 million rounds of large-caliber artillery ammunition, as well as air defense systems, missiles for deep precision strikes and drones.
The EU says its members have provided some 48.5 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022.
Meanwhile, key battlefield updates on the 1,092nd day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine are as follows:
Russian forces have taken back more than 800 square km of territory from Ukraine in the Kursk region of western Russia, or about 64% of the total taken by Ukraine since an incursion began last year, Colonel General Sergei Rudskoi, head of Russia’s General Staff, said.
Rudskoi also said that Russia now controls 75% of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions and more than 99% of the Luhansk region. He said the four regions are now legally part of Russia and will never be returned to Ukraine.
Russia now controls 75% of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions
A man was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack in Russia’s Belgorod region, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
A “massive” Russian attack on the port city of Odesa in southwestern Ukraine left four people hospitalized and a large residential area – covering 14 schools and about 160,000 residents – without heat, water or electricity, Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov said.
A Russian guided bomb killed at least one person in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kupiansk, said Kharkiv region’s Governor Oleh Syniehubov.
Ukraine said Russia launched 167 drones and two missiles in overnight attacks. Ukrainian forces shot down 106 of those drones, while 56 more failed to reach their targets. They did not specify what happened to the remaining five.
Ukraine’s military also said they destroyed a North Korean self-propelled M-1978 Koksan howitzer in the Luhansk region, marking the first time a weapon of this nature has been hit.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that fighters from the 810th brigade crossed into Ukrainian territory in the Sumy region overnight. Kyiv has denied the claim.
Putin also suggested a Ukrainian drone attack on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium in southern Russia may have been coordinated with European powers, saying Kyiv could not have carried out such an attack without Western intelligence.
Kremlin forces are a little more than 6 km from the Shevchenko lithium deposit in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, and are advancing on it from three angles, the Reuters news agency reported, citing open-source data from Ukrainian military blog DeepState.
A note on the Zelensky photo
During a visit to Ukraine, Danish photographer Mads Nissen met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and proposed capturing a portrait. Nissen suggested, “Just think, and I will see for myself what you feel now, what you are going through… what gives you strength in this difficult time.” After a brief pause, Zelenskyy agreed, responding, “OK.” This intimate moment was captured in a poignant photograph by Nissen.
Compiled by Ana Dumbadze
