One month into Trump’s new term, relations between the U.S. president and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have deteriorated quickly at the same time the Trump administration is attempting to bring an end to the three-year war in Eastern Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Zalensenkyy accused President Trump of being fooled by Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin, suggesting the U.S. president “lives in this disinformation space,” Fox News reported.
The Ukrainian president was criticizing Trump one day after the U.S. and Russia held promising talks in Saudi Arabia about an end to the war. Zelenskyy was scheduled to attend the talks but cancelled.
Not one to back down from a verbal feud, Trump this week called Zelenskyy "a dictator without elections” in a fiery post on Truth Social, a reference to the Ukrainian leader cancelling elections last year.
According to media outlets, Zelenskyy was following the country's constitution which postpones national elections if the country is under martial law.
Trump's post also said Zelenskyy “talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start.”
Fact-checking media outlets, led by European media, have said Trump's estimate of U.S. aid was wrong and also wrong about Zelenskyy's low approval ratings among his citizens.
In a separate comment to reporters, Trump pointedly blamed Zelenskyy for dragging out the war. “Well, you've been there for three years. You should’ve ended it after three years. You should’ve never started it. You could’ve made a deal," Trump said.
That criticism of the Ukrainian president was criticized mostly for Trump’s suggestion Zelenskyy started the war. Republicans on Capitol Hill, chased down by reporters, said Russia started the war.
“Russia’s the aggressor here,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters.
Trump’s accusation also gave political ammunition to Democrats who have accused President Trump, ever since his first term, of being too friendly to Putin and even being his “stooge” in the White House.
“Trump is obviously frustrated with Zelenskyy,” Bob Maginnis, a national security expert, tells AFN.
“Yes, the Russians invaded Ukraine,” Maginnis continues, “but the fact is that had things been done differently, this never would have happened.”
War has divided American public
The war has heavily divided the American public, too, along political lines. Many conservatives and Republicans have condemned the Biden administration for sending billions in aid to Ukraine, where political corruption is rampant, and for stripping our own armed forces to supply Ukraine's military.
Many Democrats, meanwhile, wear Ukrainian flag pins and hail Zelenskyy as a wartime hero.
Back in the Fox News story, it said the U.S. and Russia agreed this week to appoint "high-level teams" to begin discussing a path to end the war. That path would include a ceasefire, elections in Ukraine, and a signed final agreement to end the conflict.
Citing multiple diplomatic sources, Fox said new elections in Ukraine will likely be part of a peace deal, with Zelenskyy not expected to win re-election.
