Trump living in Russian ‘disinformation space’ says Zelensky
Vladimir Putin has said Ukraine would not be excluded from talks.
Volodymyr Zelensky has said Donald Trump is living in a Russian “disinformation space”, following the US president’s comments about the Ukrainian leader’s approval rating.
Mr Trump said at his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, on Tuesday that Mr Zelensky’s rating stands at 4%.
He added that Mr Trump “lives in this disinformation space”.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had been told by Donald Trump that the negotiations process will involve both Russia and Ukraine.
Mr Zelensky said he “would like Trump’s team to be more truthful” in his first response to a series of striking claims the US president made the previous day, including suggesting that Kyiv was to blame for the war, which enters its fourth year next week.
The US president also suggested that Ukraine ought to hold elections, which have been postponed due to the war and the consequent imposition of martial law, in accordance with the Ukrainian Constitution.
Public opinion polls and approval ratings have not been reliable in Ukraine because of the fighting.
Mr Zelensky made the comments shortly before he was expected to meet Keith Kellogg, the US special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, who arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Mr Kellogg will meet Mr Zelensky and military commanders as the US shifts its policy away from years of efforts to isolate Mr Putin.
Meanwhile, Mr Putin said he would like to meet Mr Trump, a day after senior American and Russian officials held talks that were partially aimed at preparing just such a summit.
He added that he would be “pleased” to meet Mr Trump but noted that Mr Trump has acknowledged that a Ukrainian settlement could take longer than he initially hoped.
He brushed off Mr Zelensky’s complaints about Ukraine being left out of the US-Russian talks, saying that Kyiv’s reaction was “unfounded”.
“President Trump told me during our phone call that the United States are proceeding from the assumption that the negotiations process will involve Russia and Ukraine,” Mr Putin said. “No one is going to exclude Ukraine out of it.”
The Russian leader hailed Tuesday’s talks between Russian and US senior officials in the Saudi capital of Riyadh as “very positive”.
He said officials who took part in the talks described the US delegation to him as “completely different people who were open to the negotiation process without any bias, without any condemnation of what was done in the past”, and determined to work together with Moscow.
“Without increasing the level of trust between Russia and the United States, it is impossible to resolve many issues, including the Ukrainian crisis. The goal of this meeting was precisely to increase trust between Russia and the United States,” Mr Putin said.
Mr Putin also added that he was surprised to see Mr Trump showing “restraint” regarding the European leaders who backed his rival in the US election.
“All European leaders effectively intervened directly in the US elections,” he said, adding that some “directly insulted” Mr Trump.
“Frankly speaking, I’m surprised to see the newly elected US president’s restraint regarding his allies, who have behaved in a boorish way to put it straight.”
Mr Putin reiterated the Kremlin’s official line that Russia never rejected the possibility of talks with Kyiv or its European allies.
“The Europeans have stopped contacts with Russia. The Ukrainian side has forbidden itself to negotiate,” he said in a reference to Mr Zelensky’s 2022 decree that rejected any talks with Moscow.
Mr Trump suggested on Tuesday that Kyiv was to blame for the war, as talks between top American and Russian diplomats in Saudi Arabia sidelined Ukraine and its European supporters.
The US president’s comments are likely to anger Ukrainian officials, who have urged the world to help them fight Russia’s full-scale invasion that began on February 24 2022.
The battlefield has also brought grim news for Ukraine in recent months.
A relentless onslaught in eastern areas by Russia’s bigger army is grinding down Ukrainian forces, which are slowly but steadily being pushed backward at some points on the 600-mile (1,000km) front line.
Mr Trump told reporters on Tuesday that Ukraine “should have never started” the war and “could have made a deal” to prevent it.
Mr Kellogg said his visit is “a chance to have some good, substantial talks”.
American officials have signalled that Ukraine’s hopes of joining Nato in order to ward off Russian aggression after reaching a possible peace agreement will not happen.
Mr Zelensky has said any settlement will require US security commitments to keep Russia at bay.
“We understand the need for security guarantees,” Mr Kellogg said in comments carried by Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne Novyny on his arrival at Kyiv railway station.
“It’s very clear to us the importance of the sovereignty of this nation and the independence of this nation as well … Part of my mission is to sit and listen,” the retired three-star general said.
He said he will convey what he learns on his visit to Mr Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio “and ensure that we get this one right”.
