Volodymyr Zelenskyy is referred to as a “dictator without elections” by US President Donald Trump as “dictator without elections.”
Trump also accused Zelenskyy of embezzling the nation through an unending conflict in a lengthy and obscene post on his social media platform Truth Social on Wednesday.
“Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start”, Trump, a former reality TV star, wrote.
The US president continued by implying that Zelenskyy wanted Ukraine to keep fighting for its territory.
Trump remarked, “Zelenskyy probably wants to keep the “gravy train” moving, using a phrase that suggests Ukraine is stealing US aid.
Trump’s most clingy words to the Ukrainian president, a US ally, as he fights a US-led invasion that started in February 2022.
However, as Trump and his administration get closer to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the overall attitude has changed.
Already, European allies have responded with outrage over Trump’s latest remarks, saying his comments are detrimental to the peace process.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, for instance, responded forcefully against the allegations that Zelenskyy was a “dictator” for not holding elections in wartime.
Shortly after Trump’s post, Scholz told the newspaper Spiegel, “It is simply wrong and dangerous to deny President Zelenskyy democratic legitimacy.”
The Ukrainian president is Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian Constitution and electoral laws stipulate that proper elections cannot be held in the middle of a conflict. No one should claim otherwise”.
A trend of increasing hostility
On February 24, there will be a third anniversary of the Ukrainian conflict, which there is no known resolution.
Trump, however, promised to be a “peacemaker and unifier” on January 20th, implying he could bring global conflicts to an end quickly.
He announced via surprise announcement on social media that he had just had a “long and fruitful phone call” with President Putin and that he would “enter negotiations immediately” to put an end to the Ukrainian conflict.
Following a prisoner-exchange between the US and Russia, Zelenskyy announced the announcement, and at first he hoped for better.
However, the mood started to deteriorate as Zelenskyy and his European allies began to accuse the US of completely excluding them from the peace negotiations.
For the first high-level discussions between the two nations since Russia’s full-scale invasion began, US officials traveled to Saudi Arabia this week to meet Russian officials. No representatives from Ukraine or Europe participated in the discussion.
Trump and Putin have also confirmed their intention to travel together in the coming months.
Meanwhile, Trump and his officials have been pressuring Ukraine to make concessions.
For instance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated at a meeting of European allies last week that Ukraine should seek the return of all its territory following Russia’s 2014 invasion of the Crimean Peninsula.
Hegseth said, “We will only put an end to this devastating war by coupling allied strength with a realistic assessment of the battlefield.”
“We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But we must start by recognising that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective”.
Trump echoed those sentiments himself, and on Tuesday, he accused Zelenskyy of initiating the invasion himself.
“You ought to have never begun it,” he said. You might have struck a deal. I could have made a deal for Ukraine”, Trump said in remarks from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
He added that Zelenskyy’s decision to be excluded from the peace negotiations is only his fault.
“Today, I heard, ‘ Oh, well, we weren’t invited. ‘ Well, you’ve been there for three years. You should have ended it”, Trump said.
Russia has long argued that a full-scale invasion of Ukraine was required to safeguard citizens and stop Ukraine from joining NATO.
No formalized or recorded policy similar to that one from a US official claiming that NATO would “not one inch” eastward has ever been made by Putin and his allies.
However, the invasion was viewed by Ukraine and its allies in Europe as an unprovoked act of aggression that reflects Vladimir Putin’s territorial ambitions in Eastern Europe.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock claimed that Russia was the only truly democratic dictatorship after Trump’s most recent social media post on Tuesday.
You can tell who in Europe has to live in the conditions of a dictatorship, she said, if you look at the real world rather than just tweeting.
Andrii Sybiha, the foreign minister of Ukraine, responded to Trump’s pressure by saying, “Nobody can force Ukraine to give up.” We will fight for our existence’s rights.
Even domestic critics were aghast at the latest social-media fusillade. Democrats Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland veered from discussing the upcoming US budget bill in favor of Trump’s accusations against Zelenskyy on the Senate floor.
“ Mr President, this is a shameful moment for the United States”, Van Hollen said. “We have stood up for freedom. We have stood up for democracy. We have fought for the rule of law, but now President Trump is discrediting freedom-loving citizens in other countries.
Kimberly Halkett, a journalist for Al Jazeera, described Trump’s most recent comments on Zelenskyy as an illustration of his “classic bullying” strategy.
She claimed that “he’s really trying to denigrate the Ukrainian leader by making reference to his previous occupation, which was that he was a comedian before he became the leader of Ukraine.”
The US firmly supported Ukraine under former US President Joe Biden’s leadership, including by providing the war-torn nation with billions of dollars in military aid and equipment.
But Halkett warned that Trump’s latest remarks signal , a “stunning reversal” of US policy.
“What the Biden administration did previously was isolate Russia”, she said. “Now, the Trump administration is doing the exact opposite”.
But in his post on Tuesday, Trump accused Zelenskyy of playing Biden “like a fiddle”. He asserted his unique ability to bring peace to Ukraine.
“We are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only ‘ TRUMP, ‘ and the Trump Administration, can do”, the US president wrote.
He also addressed his Ukrainian counterpart with some ominous words. Zelenskyy should act quickly if there are elections, otherwise he won’t have any country left.
Zelenskyy has warned that it would be “very, very, very difficult” for Ukraine to survive Russia’s continuing assault without US support, and he has called for a united US-Europe front against the aggression.
Zelenskyy reiterated his view that Putin cannot be trusted in a social media post on Tuesday, and urged Europe and the US to work together to find a way to end the conflict.
“We cannot allow Putin to deceive everyone again”, Zelenskyy wrote. All parties must be aware that strong security guarantees are the top priority for a lasting peace in order for any potential negotiations to proceed.
