US President Donald Trump escalated his hostility with Voludmir Zelinski, and described the Ukrainian president as “a dictator without elections.”
In the lengthy and accumulated mail On his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, Trump also accused Zelinski of taking money and involved the country in an endless conflict.
“Think about it, a successful comedy spoke modestly, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with the United States of America to spend $ 350 billion, to go to a war that cannot be won, and she never had to start,” Trump, the former reality TV star, wrote.
The US President continued to hint that Zelinski had hidden motives for his desire to continue fighting for its territory.
“Maybe Zelenskyy wants to keep the” broth train “,” Trump said.
The position of social media was the most thorny speech of Trump towards the Ukrainian president, an American ally, as he seeks to repel a large -scale Russian invasion that started in February 2022.
But Trump’s general position has become increasingly hostile to Zelinski, as he and his government are approaching Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Indeed, European allies responded angrily on Trump’s recent statements, saying that his comments were harmful to the peace process.
German Chancellor Olaf Schools, for example, responded strongly against the allegations that Zellinski was a “dictator” for not holding wartime elections.
“It is simply and dangerous to deprive the Democratic President of the President,” Schools told the Spice newspaper shortly after Trump.
“Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the president of the elected Ukraine state. The fact that appropriate elections cannot be held in the middle of the war in line with the requirements of the Ukrainian constitution and electoral laws. No one should demand otherwise.”
The direction of increasing hostility
The war in Ukraine will reach the third anniversary on February 24, without a clear ending on the horizon.
But when he took office last month on January 20, Trump promised to be a “peacemaker and unity”, which means that he could put global conflicts to a quick result.
On February 12, he issued a sudden declaration on social media: He just concluded a “long and fruitful phone call” with President Putin and agreed to “start negotiations immediately” to end the war in Ukraine.
This announcement came in the aftermath of the exchange of prisoners between the United States and Russia, and at first, Zelinski expressed optimism about the dialogue.
But within hours, the mood had tense, as Zelinski and his European allies accused the United States of cutting them out of peace negotiations completely.
US officials traveled this week to Saudi Arabia to meet Russian officials in the first high -level talks between the two countries since the start of the full invasion of Russia. No Ukrainian or European representatives participated in the dialogue.
Trump and Putin also confirmed plans to visit each other in the coming months.
Meanwhile, Trump and his officials were pressing Ukraine to make concessions.
Last week, for example, Defense Minister Beit Higseth told a meeting of European allies that it was a “goal of illusion” for Ukraine to seek to return all its lands dating back to 2014, when Russia invaded the Crimea Peninsula.
“We will end this devastating war only and create a solid peace by associating the strength of the Allies with a realistic assessment of the battlefield,” he said.
“We want, like you, Ukraine, with sovereign and prosperous. But we must start by realizing that returning to the borders of Ukraine before 2014 is an unrealistic goal.”
Trump chanted these feelings himself, and on Tuesday, he accused Zelinski of starting the same invasion.
“I never started. I could have made a deal. Trump said in comments from his resort Mar Lago in Florida:” I could have made a deal with Ukraine. “
He also argued that Zelinski had only to be responsible for excluding him from peace negotiations.
“Today, I heard,” Oh, well, we didn’t claim. “Well, I was there for three years. Trump said:” You must finish it. “
Russia has long argued that its extensive conquest of Ukraine was necessary to protect civilians and prevent the country from joining the NATO alliance.
Putin and his allies have pointed to a comment during the Cold War era from an American official saying that NATO will expand “not one inch” east, although there is no such policy at all.
But Ukraine and its European allies have condemned the invasion as an unpopular act of aggression, which reflects Putin’s regional ambitions in Eastern Europe.
On Tuesday, in the aftermath of the last position of the social media in Trump, German Secretary of State Analina Perbuk argued that the only real dictatorship was in Russia.
She said: “If you look at the real world instead of just launching a tweet, you know who should live in Europe in dictatorship conditions.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrei Sibha also responded to Trump’s pressure, writing On social media: “No one can force Ukraine to surrender. We will defend our right to exist.”
Al -Jazeera correspondent Kimberly Halkhet said that Trump’s latest comments on Zelinski was an example of his “classic bullying” tactics.
She said: “He is really trying to reduce the Ukrainian leader by referring to his previous occupation: He was a comic before he became the leader of Ukraine.”
Under the leadership of former President Joe Biden, the United States stood firmly by Ukraine, including by sending billions of dollars in military equipment and assistance.
But Halkate warned that Trump’s recent statements indicate a “amazing reflection” of the United States policy.
She said: “What the previous Biden administration did is to isolate Russia,” she said. “Now, the Trump administration is doing the exact opposite.”
But in his post on Tuesday, Trump Zelinski was accused of playing Biden “like a violin.” He threw himself able to secure peace to Ukraine.
“We are successfully negotiating the end of the war with Russia, which only recognizes” Trump “and Trump’s administration,” the US President wrote.
He also presented some fateful words to his Ukrainian counterpart. “A dictator without elections, Zelenskyy moves better quickly or will not leave a country.”
Zelinski warned that it would be “very difficult, for Ukraine to survive Russia’s ongoing attack without the support of the United States, and he called for a unified front of the carob against the aggression.
In his post on social media on Tuesday, Zelinski repeated his position that Putin was not reliable – and urged Europe and the United States to work together to ask for a solution to war.
“We cannot allow Putin to deceive everyone again.” books. “Before any possible negotiations, all partners must clearly understand that strong security guarantees are a priority for permanent peace.”