The US and Ukraine seem to be heading towards a rift after Donald Trump escalated his attacks on Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling the Ukrainian President “dictator without elections.”
The US leader’s comments came after Zelenskyy said that Trump was “trapped” in a Russian “disinformation bubble,” following Trump’s claims that Ukraine was to blame for Russia’s 2022 invasion, remarks that echoed the Kremlin’s narrative.
The unprecedented escalation of tensions between Kyiv and Washington came after senior US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to discuss the war in Ukraine, as well as economic and political cooperation, indicating a fundamental shift in the US approach to Moscow.
Ukraine and Europe were excluded from the talks, increasing fears that Trump could push for a peace deal favouring Vladimir Putin.
Trump’s overall posture has become increasingly hostile towards Zelenskyy, as he and his government draw closer to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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. “It is simply wrong and dangerous to deny President Zelenskyy democratic legitimacy,” Scholz told a newspaper shortly after Trump’s post.
“Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the elected head of state of Ukraine. The fact that proper elections cannot be held in the middle of a war is in line with the requirements of the Ukrainian constitution and electoral laws. No one should claim otherwise.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
In a phone call to Zelenskyy late on Wednesday, the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, expressed his support for “Ukraine’s democratically elected leader”, adding that it was “perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during war time as the UK did during World War II.”
Ukrainian legislation bans elections during martial law, which has been in place since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022.
Few Ukrainians support the idea of a poll at a time when Russia’s invasion has forced millions to flee abroad, and when Ukrainian soldiers are fighting and dying on the frontline.
Ruslan Stefanchuk, the Speaker of Ukraine’s parliament, said on his Facebook page that Ukraine was not “giving up” on elections.
“Inventing ‘democracy’ under shelling is not democracy, but a spectacle in which the main beneficiary is in the Kremlin. Ukraine needs bullets, not ballots.”
Ruslan Stefanchuk
Doubt Casted On Future US Aid
Trump’s latest comments will cast serious doubt on future US aid to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy has previously said that Ukraine had little chance of survival without support from the US, a key military partner.
He also called for a united US-Europe front against the aggression.
While Zelenskyy said he would like Trump’s team to be “more truthful”, Putin, on the same day, said the US President had begun receiving “objective information” about the war in Ukraine that led him to “change his position.”
Zelenskyy also disputed Trump’s comments that most of Ukraine’s support came from the US. “The truth is somewhere else,” Zelenskyy said, adding that he remained “grateful for the support” and wanted “the Trump team to have true facts”. He then said that the US supplied $67bn in weapons and $31.5bn in budget support.
Discussing a Trump-led initiative to corner his country’s critical minerals as a down-payment for continued military and economic aid, Zelenskyy said that he could not “sell Ukraine away” but he was prepared to work “on a serious document” if it contained “security guarantees”.
The US had proposed taking ownership of 50% of Ukraine’s critical minerals, but the proposal appeared to lack any security guarantees, such as the deployment of US troops in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy’s team has placed high importance on the need for guarantees from the US that would deter Russia from launching a new invasion once a peace deal was reached.
The war in Ukraine will reach its third anniversary on February 24, with no clear end in sight.
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