Trump calls Zelenskiy a ‘dictator,’ broadens attacks on Ukraine

US President Trump

US President Donald Trump denounced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as a “dictator” and ratcheted up pressure on Kyiv to accept the terms of a deal to end the war the US is negotiating with Russia.

Trump on Wednesday accused Zelenskiy of taking advantage of US aid supplied by former President Joe Biden and insinuated Ukraine was to blame for the ongoing conflict, which Russia started with its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

“A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,” Trump wrote on his social media site. “He refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden ‘like a fiddle.’”

Trump’s comments mark his most pointed criticism of Zelenskiy since retaking office, the latest sign that the US-Ukraine relationship is rapidly deteriorating under the new president’s administration. Trump dispatched top advisers to Saudi Arabia this week to negotiate directly with their Russian counterparts — cutting Ukraine out of the process.

“In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only ‘TRUMP,’ and the Trump Administration, can do. Biden never tried, Europe has failed to bring Peace, and Zelenskyy probably wants to keep the ‘gravy train’ going,” Trump wrote on Wednesday.

Ukraine’s absence from the talks prompted Zelenskiy to cancel a trip to Saudi Arabia planned for Wednesday. Trump on Tuesday made similar comments about Zelenskiy’s polling and Ukraine’s culpability for the war, prompting the Ukrainian leader to accuse the president of living in a Russian “disinformation space.”