Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy slammed Donald Trump’s accusation overnight that Ukraine started its war with Russia. He said the American president is trapped in a “disinformation bubble.” He added that his country was not for sale.
Speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort late Tuesday, Trump said he believed he had the power to end the war in Ukraine, but today I heard, ‘Oh, well, we weren’t invited.’ Well, you’ve been there for three years.”
Zelenskyy and the EU weren’t invited to the initial meeting in Saudi Arabia with Russian officials.
“I think I have the power to end this war, and I think it’s going very well,” Trump said. “But today I heard, ‘Oh, well, we weren’t invited.’ Well, you’ve been there for three years,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort. “You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”
Zelensky has said he wouldn’t give in on anything, including NATO membership and land concessions.
President Trump is likely thinking about Minsk 2. Russia waited seven years for Minsk 2 to be enacted. What Russia didn’t know was that Germany and France were lying about the deal. They admitted they lied to buy time to build a Ukrainian army. Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande later mocked Russia for failing it.
Minsk 2 would have given Donbas freedom, and Ukraine would have agreed not to join NATO for a third time.
While Russia waited, constant cross-border fighting continued.
Why Not Allow Elections?
President Trump added that his Ukrainian counterpart’s approval ratings sat at 4% in Ukraine — despite an opinion poll released Wednesday by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology showing that 57% of Ukrainians trust Zelenskyy. He appears to want Ukraine to hold elections.
Then elections shouldn’t be a problem. Let the UN run it.
“As we are talking about 4%, we have seen this disinformation; we understand it’s coming from Russia,” Zelenskyy told a news conference in Kyiv Wednesday as he dismissed Trump’s claim.
That’s to insinuate Trump gets his information from Russia.
Zelenskyy said Ukrainians would not support any concessions to Russia. It’s difficult to negotiate with unbending demands.
When he said the country isn’t for sale, it followed Trump saying he could pay for the $300 billion we gave him so far in minerals.
“The army is quite resilient, and it is the most resilient in Europe … and it guarantees us the opportunity to speak with dignity and on an equal footing with other partners — allies or non-allies,” Zelenskyy said.
He’s going to keep fighting.
One million people have died in this war, while our borders were flooded with unvetted people from around the world.
Subscribe to the Daily Newsletter
