Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.
End of dialog window.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in the United States on Thursday to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump, following a series of heated exchanges between the two leaders.
This face-to-face meeting, the first since Trump took office on January 20, is expected to focus on a rare minerals agreement.
The meeting comes after a recent war of words between Zelenskyy and Trump, sparked by a high-level U.S.-Russia meeting on the Russia-Ukraine conflict held in Saudi Arabia on February 18.
Ukraine was notably absent from the talks, prompting Zelenskyy to postpone a scheduled visit to Saudi Arabia in protest, stating that “negotiations should not take place behind our backs.”
Trump responded by criticizing Ukraine’s absence, suggesting that Kyiv bore responsibility for starting the conflict. “You should have never started it. You could have made a deal,” Trump said to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
He further claimed that Zelenskyy’s approval rating had plummeted to “4 percent” and called for new presidential elections in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy sharply rebutted Trump’s comments, accusing him of believing Russian “disinformation.” “I believe that the United States helped Putin break out of years of isolation,” Zelenskyy told reporters, delivering some of his strongest criticism yet of the U.S. administration.
The verbal clash intensified when Trump labeled Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections” on his social media platform, Truth Social. “Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a country left,” Trump wrote.
Zelenskyy countered by pointing out that his approval rating stands above 50 percent, citing a recent poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.
Despite the escalating rhetoric, Trump appeared to downplay his earlier remarks on the eve of Zelenskyy’s visit. “Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that,” Trump said when asked about his “dictator” comment.
Trump also suggested that Zelenskyy’s presence at peace talks was “not very important,” criticizing his handling of the war. “He has no cards,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News Radio. “He’s been at meetings for three years, and nothing got done.”
Furthermore, Trump stated that Ukraine could “forget about” joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and he would try to get Ukraine as much land as possible from Russia during negotiations. “We’re going to do the best we can to make the best deal we can for both sides,” he said.
Zelenskyy, showing a willingness to compromise, said he was willing to step down as president if it would enable Ukraine to join NATO.
