President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine appealed to the Trump administration on Wednesday to respect the truth and avoid disinformation in discussing the war that began with a Russian invasion of his country, in his first response to President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Ukraine had started the war.
“I would like to have more truth with the Trump team,” Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv during a broader discussion about the administration, which this week opened peace talks with Russia that excluded Ukraine. Zelensky said that the US President was “living in a disinformation space” and in a “circle of disinformation”.
The remarks, delivered from his presidential office in Kyiv, a building still fortified with sandbags to avoid blasts from Russian missiles, were some of the most pointed yet about Trump and his views on the war.
On Wednesday, Trump deepened his criticism of Ukraine, calling Zelensky, a “dictator” who took money from the US to go to war with Russia — a nation that had seized some territory in 2014 before its full-scale invasion three years ago. In a social media post littered with falsehoods, Trump made no mention of Russia’s President, Vladimir V. Putin, or his responsibility for the war. Earlier in the day,
Zelensky had until this week walked a fine line of staking out Ukrainian positions while avoiding any suggestion of an open breach with the US, Ukraine’s most important ally in the now nearly three-year-old war.
After the initial ceasefire talks between Russia and the US, Zelensky on Tuesday had starkly laid out his refusal to accept terms negotiated without Ukrainian participation.
Later on Tuesday, Trump said of Ukraine’s leadership and the war, “You should have never started it,” and appeared to embrace what has been a Russian demand that Ukraine hold elections before some stages of talks. Elections were suspended under martial law after Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
Trump also said that Zelensky’s approval rating was 4 per cent. Zelensky said that was not true, citing polls showing far higher support.
At the news conference, Zelensky was focused and spoke with intensity. He said he was not personally ruffled by the negotiations with the Trump administration.
“This is not my first dialogue or fight,” he said.
“I take it calmly. Russia, he said, is clearly pleased with the turn of diplomatic developments.
“I think Putin and the Russians are very happy, because questions are discussed with them,” Zelensky said.
“Yesterday, there were signals of speaking with them as victims,” he said of the Trump officials’ tone in discussing the Russian officials.
New York Times News Service