Zelenskyy meets US envoy amid spat with Trump
KYIV—US President Donald Trump’s envoy for the Ukraine conflict met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Thursday but there was no immediate word on whether their talks had helped smooth over an unprecedented wartime rift between the once firm allies, and key US officials indicated that major frustrations remain.
Zelenskyy had earlier struck a conciliatory tone after accusing Trump of repeating Russian disinformation in response to the US president’s accusation that Ukraine had started the three-year-old war with Russia. Trump went on to refer to Zelenskyy as a “dictator” who should act fast or lose his country.
Trump, in office for just a month, is pushing for a quick deal to end the war and has alarmed Washington’s European allies by leaving them and Ukraine out of initial talks with Russia.
His vice president, JD Vance, said on Thursday he believed an end to the conflict was near and there was no stopping the war without speaking to Russia.
Come back to the table
US national security adviser Mike Waltz, meanwhile, told a White House press briefing that Zelenskyy’s insults were unacceptable and that the Ukrainian president needed to come back to the table and discuss a previously floated deal to give the United States access to Ukraine’s minerals resources.
Trump’s Ukraine and Russia envoy, Keith Kellogg, had arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday, saying he was there to listen.
Following the meeting, Zelenskyy wrote on X that he had a detailed and productive conversation with Kellogg about prisoners of war, effective security guarantees that would be part of any peace agreement, and the battlefield situation.
But there were few additional details available, and a planned joint press conference was canceled at the United States’ request, Zelenskyy’s office said.
