On Wednesday, President Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance exchanged harsh criticisms against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, signaling an evolving, but united, front between the administration in Washington and officials in Kyiv.
Zelensky’s relationship with President Trump has become more tense, as the latter insists on a swift and reasonable conclusion to the war against Russia.
According to a leaked document, Trump demanded $500 billion in “payback” for Ukraine as part of any peace agreement negotiated with Russia. The Telegraph, which viewed the confidential documents, reported that the price included some control over Ukraine’s ports, infrastructures, oil, natural gas, and essential minerals.
This news, as well as signs that the White House was in negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has caused Ukraine to be “panicked” about being left behind.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with a Russian delegation recently in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. They engaged in “positive, optimistic, constructive” discussions on how to proceed.
At a Mar-a-Lago press conference on Tuesday, the president told reporters that Ukraine missed a great opportunity to enter into negotiations.
Trump said, “They have had a seat since three years ago and for a long time before that.” “This could have easily been resolved — just a… half-baked negotiator would have settled it years ago, without losing much land or very little.”
He accused Zelensky of holding Ukraine under “martial law” and encouraged his people to call for new elections.
The days of handling Ukraine with child gloves are over. Zelensky responded with a tantrum and borrowed from Biden-Harris’ playbook. He suggested that anything contrary to their nation’s needs is “disinformation.”
Zelensky said to reporters in the early hours of Wednesday: “Unfortunately, Donald Trump, although I have high respect for him as leader of a country that we respect, and for the American people, who have always supported us, lives, unfortunately, in this space where there is disinformation.”
The White House didn’t like the response.
On Truth Social, President Trump ripped into Ukraine’s leader Wednesday morning. He called Zelensky a “modestly successful comedian” who managed to drag the United States into a war that cost them “$350 billion.”
Zelenskyy has admitted that half the money he received is “MISSING”. He refused to hold elections, was very low in Ukrainian polls and his only talent was playing Biden “like a fiddle,” he said.
Trump then called Zelensky “a dictator with no elections,” who had better help end the conflict before it was too late.
The President concluded that Zelenskyy likely wants to continue the gravy train. “I love Ukraine but Zelenskyy did a terrible job. His country is shattered and MILLIONS of people have died unnecessarily.”
In an interview with Daily Mail, Vice-President Vance heaped on Ukraine’s President by noting that anyone who “badmouths” Trump in public by giving him “bad advice”, isn’t doing him any favors.
Vance said, “Everyone who knows President Bush will tell you this is a terrible way to deal with the administration.”
Then, he repeated the American foreign policy with Ukraine slowly to those who didn’t seem to get it.
“We love the Ukrainian people. We admire the bravery of the soldiers, but we think that this war needs to come to a rapid close,” Vance insisted. “That is the policy of the President of the United States. It is not based on Russian disinformation.”
Zelensky won’t succeed if he runs headfirst into Trump-Vance’s brick wall of peace. He must know that.
Zelensky must help bring peace to the world if he is to be taken as a serious leader. Trump says that until then he’s just a comedian who became an oligarch.