Trump to Zelenskyy: Move fast or lose land
WASHINGTON/KYIV — US President Donald Trump denounced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a “dictator” on Wednesday and warned he had to move quickly to secure peace or risk losing his country, deepening a feud between the two leaders that has alarmed European officials.
The extraordinary attacks — a day after Trump claimed Ukraine was to blame for Russia’s 2022 invasion — heightened concerns among US allies in Europe that Trump’s approach to ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict could benefit Moscow.
Less than a month into his presidency, Trump has upended US policy on the war, ending a campaign to isolate Russia with a Trump-Putin phone call and talks between senior US and Russian officials that have sidelined Ukraine.
“A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,” Trump wrote on social media.
In response, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said no one could force his country to give in.
“We will defend our right to exist,” Sybiha said on X.
Badmouthing Trump
Zelenskyy’s five-year term was supposed to end in 2024, but presidential and parliamentary elections cannot be held under martial law, which Ukraine imposed in February 2022 in response to Russia’s invasion.
Trump’s outburst followed Zelenskyy’s comments on Tuesday that the US president was parroting Russian disinformation when he asserted that Ukraine “should never have started” the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion three years ago.
US Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday warned Zelenskyy against attacking Trump.
“The idea that Zelenskyy is going to change the president’s mind by badmouthing him in public media … everyone who knows the president will tell you that is an atrocious way to deal with this administration,” Vance said in his West Wing office, the Daily Mail reported.
‘Disinformation space’
Russia has seized some 20 percent of Ukraine and is slowly but steadily gaining more territory in the east. Moscow said its “special military operation” responded to an existential threat posed by Kyiv’s pursuit of NATO membership. Ukraine and the West call Russia’s action an imperialist land grab.
The Ukrainian leader said Trump’s assertion that his approval rating was just 4 percent was Russian disinformation and that any attempt to replace him would fail.
“We have evidence that these figures are being discussed between America and Russia. That is, President Trump … unfortunately lives in this disinformation space,” Zelenskiy told Ukrainian TV.
The latest poll from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, from early February, found 57 percent of Ukrainians trust Zelenskyy.
