President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have had a fraught relationship dating back years. They met here at the United Nations in 2019. Trump is now calling Zelenskyy a ‘dictator,’ and Zelenskyy says it seems like Trump is living in a Russian-made ‘disinformation space.’
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SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
WASHINGTON and KYIV — For the past three years, the U.S. has been Ukraine’s leading supporter in its war with Russia. Yet with a series of blunt comments, President Trump is now sounding more aligned with Russia than Ukraine.
Trump, writing on social media, used his strongest language to date in describing Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy: “A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left.”
With limited room for maneuver, Zelenskyy has said relatively little. But he did strike a nerve when he said Wednesday that Trump seemed to be living in a Russian-created “disinformation space.”
Trump is pushing for a rapid end to the Russia-Ukraine war, which began with a limited Russian invasion in 2014, and escalated dramatically with a full-scale invasion in 2022. The Biden administration stitched together a coalition of more than 50 nations, most of them European, that coordinated military and political efforts to assist Ukraine against the much larger Russian military.
In the past week, Trump has also reached out to Russia, which had been isolated by the Biden administration and most of the West. Trump called Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and the U.S. president sent his Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top aides to meet their Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia for preliminary discussions.
President Trump has suggested that and Putin could meet soon.
Ukrainian firefighters carry the body of a civilian following a missile strike in the eastern town of Poltava on Feb. 1. Russia carries out daily airstrikes that often hit civilians.
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Shock in Ukraine
During his presidential campaign, Trump made clear his desire to negotiate a ceasefire. But his rapid-fire developments in recent days have taken many aback, including Ukrainians.
In the capital Kyiv, Olena Tokovenko, a 47-year-old lawyer, said Trump is acting like he owns Ukraine.
“Maybe Trump can just tell us who to elect and maybe even offer his own candidate?” she said sarcastically. “Maybe, though, we should not ask Trump, but Putin what to do. This would cut out the middleman. Because this is Russia’s policy coming through Trump.”
The idea that the U.S. sounds supportive of Russian positions is shocking to Ukrainians who have staked the survival of their country on Western support. Ukraine had been holding regular elections since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Zelenskyy, who won a landslide vote in 2019, would have been up for re-election last year. But Ukraine is under martial law due to Russia’s war on the country and did not hold elections.
Widely divergent aims for Russia, Ukraine
In Washington, Andrew Weiss with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said Russia and Ukraine are both interested in a ceasefire, though they have very different demands.
“The Ukrainians would want and would support a clean ceasefire where there are no preconditions. It’s just the fighting stops,” Weiss, who worked for the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, said. “That would favor the Ukrainians because there would be no restrictions on the Western ability to resupply them and help them create a new military that would be able to deter future Russian aggression.”
In contrast, he said, “the Russians are pressing for a big cease fire that would include caps on the size of Ukraine’s military. It would impose strict limits on Western cooperation with Ukraine and it would close the door to Ukraine’s membership in NATO.”
He said the Russians are appealing to Trump by suggesting a ceasefire would restore more normal U.S.-Russian ties, with benefits for both the U.S. and Russia.
“The Russians have been very good at dangling opportunities in front of the Trump administration. Maybe we should resume strategic nuclear arms control discussions. Maybe the United States and Russia can work together to stabilize global oil markets,” Weiss said.
“The price, of course, would be for the United States to curtail the support we’ve been providing to Ukraine,” he added. “The Russians have a great expression: the only free cheese is in a mousetrap.”
Russian leaders pleased with Trump
Some top Russian figures say they are thrilled with Trump’s approach, exceeding their hopes.
Dmitri Medvedev, a former Russian president who’s now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, wrote on X, “If you’d told me just three months ago that these were the words of the [U.S.] president, I would have laughed out loud.”
In the U.S. many Republicans, have said little or nothing about Trump’s moves. However, some are making clear they still strongly support Ukraine.
“President Volodymyr Zelenskyy need not, and must not, have any deal forced upon him by any outside nation that does not guarantee the security and the sovereignty of the Ukrainian people,” Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., wrote on X.
Fitzpatrick is a co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus in the House, which has around 100 members.
He said the House and the Senate both have bipartisan majorities “who are ready, willing, and able to do whatever it takes to prevent Communist Dictator Vladimir Putin from being rewarded for his illegal invasion, raping, kidnapping, torturing and murdering of the Ukrainian people. We will use every lever and every vote at our disposal, regardless of the personal or political consequences.”
Greg Myre reported from Washington and Joanna Kakissis from Kyiv. NPR producer Polina Lytvynova contributed from Kyiv.
