US envoy praises Zelensky after Trump’s censure of the Ukrainian leader
The comments marked a departure from recent rebukes of Mr Zelensky by Mr Trump that appeared to indicate an abrupt deterioration of relations.
US President Donald Trump’s envoy to Ukraine and Russia said that he had held “extensive and positive discussions” with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky about the three-year war with Russia and praised the Ukrainian leader as an “embattled and courageous leader of a nation at war”.
Retired US lieutenant general Keith Kellogg travelled to Kyiv on Wednesday before a planned news conference with Mr Zelensky on Thursday was changed at the last minute to a simple photo opportunity.
But he struck a positive tone after what he said on the social platform X, formerly Twitter, had been “a long and intense day” of talks with Ukraine’s senior leadership.
Mr Trump called Mr Zelensky “a dictator without elections” and warned him that he had “better move fast” to negotiate an end to the war or risk not having a nation to lead.
The possibility that vital US military aid for Ukraine was in doubt darkened the mood in Kyiv as Ukrainian forces struggle to hold back Russia’s bigger army on the battlefield.
European governments, uneasy about being side-lined so far in talks between senior US and Russian officials, have jumped to shore up Mr Zelensky and at the same time avoid a breakdown in transatlantic relations.
Polish President Andrzej Duda, whose country has been a vocal supporter of neighbouring Ukraine, said Mr Zelensky phoned him on Friday.
Mr Duda said he told Mr Zelensky “to remain committed to the course of calm and constructive cooperation” with Mr Trump.
“I trust that goodwill and honesty form the foundation of the US negotiation strategy,” Mr Duda said on X.
“I have no doubt that President Trump is guided by a deep sense of responsibility for global stability and peace.”
The European Union’s top defence official said on Friday that the bloc plans to send a strong message of support to Ukraine next week with a new aid package to mark Monday’s third anniversary of the war.
EU defence commissioner Andrius Kubilius said senior members of the bloc’s executive branch are weighing how, “in a very urgent way, to send a very strong message to Ukrainians and to the world that we are standing together with Ukraine”.
European policy commissioners, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other top EU officials are travelling to Kyiv on Monday.
On Friday, Russian forces dropped three powerful glide bombs on Kostiantynivka, in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, killing one man and injuring two others, regional governor Vadym Filashkin said.
Another Russian glide bomb damaged homes and injured five people in the north-eastern Kharkiv region, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said.
The public quarrel between Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky began after Russia and the US agreed on Tuesday to start working toward ending the war in Ukraine and improving their diplomatic and economic ties.
With that, and a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mr Trump abruptly reversed the three-year US policy of isolating Russia.
Mr Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said during a White House briefing on Thursday that the US president is “obviously very frustrated” with Mr Zelensky.
Mr Zelensky was unhappy that a US team opened the talks without inviting him or European governments that have backed Kyiv.
When Mr Trump claimed without evidence that Mr Zelensky was deeply unpopular in Ukraine and falsely suggested that Ukraine was to blame for the war, Mr Zelensky said Mr Trump was living in a Russian-made “disinformation space,” suggesting he had been duped by Mr Putin.
