20 February 2025
Donald Trump accused Volodymyr Zelensky of riding a “gravy train” from the US and breaking a “rare earths” deal in a renewed attack on the Ukrainian president.
The US president went on to declare that Russia has the advantage in any peace negotiations, but that he believed Moscow wants peace.
“I think the Russians want to see the war end… But I think they have the cards a little bit, because they’ve taken a lot of territory, so they have the cards,” he told reporters on Wednesday night.
Mr Trump also claimed his treasury secretary was treated “rudely” during an official visit to Kyiv, accusing Mr Zelensky of “sleeping” and failing to make a deal.
Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, met the Ukrainian president in Kyiv last week to discuss granting Washington access to rare earth minerals in return for security support.
“Scott Bessent actually went there and was treated rather rudely, because essentially, they told him ‘no’,” Mr Trump told reporters on Air Force One.
Russia delighted by Trump-Zelensky row
Donald Trump’s attacks on Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukraine have been met with delight by politicians and the media in Russia.
Dmitry Medvedev, a senior security official and the former Russian president, said Mr Trump was “200 per cent right” about the Ukrainian president being a “dictator”.
Mr Medvedev said: “If you’d told me just three months ago that these were the words of the US president, I would have laughed out loud…Bankrupt clown.”
Moscow has also praised Mr Trump’s comments on peace negotiations.
Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, said Mr Trump’s remarks on Ukraine not joining Nato should he “understood” Moscow’s position.
6“He is the first, and so far, in my opinion, the only Western leader who has publicly and loudly said that one of the root causes of the Ukrainian situation was the impudent line of the previous administration to draw Ukraine into Nato,” Mr Lavrov said.
Hunt: Trump’s desire for fast peace deal ‘incredibly worrying’ for Europe
Jeremy Hunt has said Donald Trump’s push for peace in Ukraine “come hell or high water” is “incredibly worrying” for Europe.
The former Tory foreign secretary warned the US president will prioritise a quick end to the fighting over the terms of any deal, which are vital to ensure Vladimir Putin does not “come back for another bite”.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today podcast about Mr Trump’s loyalties, Mr Hunt said: “He’s not on Russia’s side, he’s not on Ukraine’s side. He is, as he sees it, on America’s side and America’s strategic interest, in his view, which is to extract itself from the financial cost of the Ukraine conflict and get a peace come hell or high water.
“Whatever costs either side have to pay, he wants a peace, and he wants it quickly. And for us in Europe that is incredibly worrying because he is less interested in the terms of that peace than we are, because for us, it is absolutely essential that Putin doesn’t get a win.”
He added: “We have a different national interest to the United States in this situation. We need a lasting peace with a sovereign Ukraine that does not tempt Putin to come back for another bite.
“And that is why it is a complex situation in which our interests are not the same as America’s, and we have to think very carefully what the outcome is that we require, and how we’re going to get there.”
Musk joins attacks on Zelensky
Elon Musk has joined Donald Trump in attacking Volodymyr Zelensky, criticising him for posing for a Vogue photoshoot during the war.
“He did this while kid are dying in trenches on the war front,” Mr Musk said in a post on X, referring to a photoshoot with his wife in July 2022.
He also said Mr Zelensky “cannot claim to represent the will of the people of Ukraine” unless he held an election before claiming that Zelensky “killed an American journalist”.
Martial law in Ukraine bans presidential, parliamentary, and local elections, a common prece
Top Trump official to meet Zelensky in Kyiv
Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia will meet Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv this morning after the US president branded him “dictator”.
Keith Kellogg arrived in Ukraine on Wednesday as part of a wider European tour as Washington and Moscow gear up for peace talks.
Mr Zelensky struck an optimistic tone about US support, despite Mr Trump’s comments, in his evening address on Wednesday.
“Our meeting with Gen Kellogg is scheduled for tomorrow, and it is crucial for us that the meeting and our overall cooperation with America be constructive,” the Ukrainian president said.
“Together with America and Europe, peace can be more secure; and that is our goal. And most importantly — this should not be not only our goal, but a shared one with our partners.”
Trump attacked Zelensky ‘out of pique’, says ex-US diplomat
Donald Trump attacked Volodymyr Zelensky and called him a “dictator” because he was irritated that the Ukrainian president was “pushing back” on his plans for peace, a former senior US diplomat said.
Kurt Volker, former US special representative for Ukraine negotiations between 2017-2019, said Mr Trump made the comments “out of pique”.
He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “I think first off he has got all of this wrong. He didn’t mention Russia at all and Russia actually is the dictatorship and attacked Ukraine as a democracy, unprovoked.
“So he has got all this backwards in this tweet that he did. I think he did this out of pique because he saw that Zelensky was pushing back on things that Donald Trump wanted.
“Donald Trump was trying to push through a quick settlement to the war and Ukraine is standing up for its interests and Zelensky is pushing back in a few different ways and I just think he did it out of pique.”
We steal your minerals, but no security quarantees nor NATO-membership………….DEAL?
“Donald Trump accused Volodymyr Zelensky of riding a “gravy train” from the US and breaking a “rare earths” deal in a renewed attack on the Ukrainian president.”
How can you break something that doesn’t exist? Trump threw his toys out of the pram because Zelensky wouldn’t bow down to extortion.
When will Ukraine’s run of bad luck come to an end?
They have fought like lions against a gigantic horde of savages, with only 20% of the help that they needed.
Now they must deal with this terrible person who hates them almost as much as putler does, but with only feeble support from the wealthy European nations; many of which prefer to buy gas and LPG off putler, rather than help a nation in distress.
Zelensky should fuck off!