Putin apologist Donald Trump has doubled down on his barrage of lies about Ukraine to the delight of the Kremlin, which can barely hide its delight at his cowardly words
Trump on Zelensky’s anger at being frozen out of peace talks
Donald Trump has doubled down on his barrage of lies about Ukraine as he shamelessly parrots Kremlin propaganda about the war.
The US President has sparked worldwide condemnation after his vicious attacks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump – who looks poised to sell out Ukraine and Europe as he cosies up to Vladimir Putin – has branded Zelensky a “dictator without elections”.
His weasely words have been greeted with delight in Moscow, where Putin said the US was finally receiving “objective information”. The tirade flared up after Trump was challenged over Zelensky being frozen out of controversial peace talks between US and Russian officials this week.
In a brazen rewriting of history he claimed Ukraine was responsible for the war breaking out in 2022. He also claimed Mr Zelensky could have made a deal to end it.
Trump – who in 2020 faced an impeachment trial over claims he tried to get Mr Zelensky to dig up dirt on Joe Biden’s son – looks unlikely to back down. It has sparked wider fears across Europe, with all signs suggesting the US is prepared to cave in to Putin’s demands. Here we look at how the row escalated.
How did this clash flare up?
Trump launched his attack when he was quizzed about Zelensky’s demand to be involved in peace talks. The US President last week shocked the world by chatting to Putin on the phone and announcing they would hold negotiations.
On Tuesday a delegation led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Russian counterparts to get the ball rolling. But incredibly Zelensky was not invited. He said he would not accept a deal forced through by the US.
Quizzed about it by reporters, Trump incredibly claimed the Ukraine was to blame for the war. In a message for Zelensky he snapped: “You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”
In an extraordinary tirade about Mr Zelensky’s exclusion, Trump appeared to question whether he has the right to be there as leader. He claimed that the Ukrainian President has just a 4% approval rating in his country.
Leaving reporters in no doubt whose side he is on, Trump ranted: “We have a situation where we haven’t had elections in Ukraine, where we essentially have martial law,” he said. “Where the leader in the Ukraine, I hate to say it, he is down at 4% approval rating and the country has been blown to smithereens. Most of the cities are lying on their sides, buildings have collapsed it looks like a massive demolition site.”
What did Zelensky say?
In a moment of incredible diplomacy and restraint, Mr Zelensky suggested that Trump was living in a “disinformation bubble”.
He suggested that the US President was being fed incorrect information. Mr Zelensky said: “Unfortunately, President Trump, with all due respect for him as the leader of a nation that we respect greatly … is living in this disinformation bubble.”
He warned there is a “misinformation circle around President Trump” – saying representatives from the Hungarian and Slovak governments could be feeding him wrong info. He went on: “This is all concerning. Everything they are doing is to make sure that Ukraine is weak.”
And referring to Trump’s claims about his popularity, Mr Zelensky said: “If we are talking about 4% then we have seen this disinformation, we understand that it comes from Russia. And we have evidence.”
Putin must be delighted then?
Of course. For years he has been frozen out by world leaders following his illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Now he has an apologist in the White House who has gone as far as suggesting Russia should be readmitted to the G7. Speaking at a drone factory on Wednesday, Putin claimed the US “began to receive objective information”.
He said: “It is impossible to solve many issues, including the Ukrainian crisis, without increasing the level of trust between Russia and the United States.”
And he said that Tuesday’s talks had been carried out without “bias and without any disapproval of what’s been done in the past”.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev could barely hide his delight either. Medvedev, a key ally of Putin, 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.”
It’s fair to say Trump is popular in Moscow then.
Will Trump back down?
Nope. The erratic Republican is not one to admit mistakes. Instead he doubled down with another vicious rant about Zelensky – raising the dangerous possibility that the rift will not heal.
In a tirade on the Truth Social network, the US President whined: “A Dictator without Elections, Zelensky better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left.”
He went on to accuse Ukraine of wasting American money sent to help with the war effort.
Do Trump and Zelensky have history?
Yes. It feels like a long time ago now, but Trump was impeached over allegations he had tried to get a foreign power to dig up information on Joe Biden’s family.
That was Zelensky. While the Ukrainian President played down the row, US intelligence chiefs voiced alarms over the number of calls Trump had made to him.
Mr Biden’s son Hunter had worked for a Ukrainian energy company, and Trump was accused of plying Zelensky for information that could be used against his rival. Trump also blocked $391million in aid to Ukraine – which he denied was linked.
Trump faced an impeachment trial, but was clared in the Senate, where the Republicans had a large majority.
What did Keir Starmer say?
In a call with Ukraine’s President the PM directly contradicted Trump, saying Mr Zelensky was a “democratically elected leader”. A Downing Street spokesman said Mr Starmer had said it was “perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during wartime” as Winston Churchill did during World War II.
They added: “The Prime Minister spoke to President Zelensky this evening and stressed the need for everyone to work together. The Prime Minister reiterated his support for the US-led efforts to get a lasting peace in Ukraine that deterred Russia from any future aggression.” It comes as the PM prepares to jet to Washington DC next week for his first face-to-face meeting with Mr Trump since he returned to the Oval Office.”
