Washington — President Trump attacked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a “dictator without elections,” echoing rhetoric from the Kremlin about the war in Ukraine and escalating a public feud between the two leaders.
In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Mr. Trump lashed out at Zelenskyy, accusing him of duping the U.S. into providing billions in aid to Ukraine and misusing it.
“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, but a War that he, without the U.S. and ‘TRUMP,’ will never be able to settle,” Mr. Trump wrote.
Mr. Trump inflated the amount of assistance the U.S. has sent to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in 2022. The U.S. has provided $66 billion in security assistance. In total, Congress has appropriated $175 billion in economic, humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine.
“He refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden ‘like a fiddle,'” Mr. Trump wrote. “A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left.”
Zelenskyy was elected president of Ukraine in 2019 with 73% of the vote. The country has delayed elections that were scheduled for early 2024 because of the war with Russia. One recent public opinion poll in Ukraine showed 57% of Ukrainians said they trust Zelenskyy, compared to 37% who said they don’t.
A senior administration official told CBS News that Mr. Trump’s attack on Zelenskyy was a direct response to the Ukrainian president saying that Mr. Trump appeared to be operating in a Russian-created “disinformation space.”
“We are seeing a lot of disinformation and that is coming from Russia,” Zelenskyy said Wednesday. “Unfortunately, President Trump, with all due respect… is living in this disinformation space.”
Zelenskyy’s comment came a day after Mr. Trump blamed Ukraine for starting the war with Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, falsely claiming Ukraine was run by “neo-Nazis” who posed a threat to Russia and its neighbors.
U.S. and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia earlier this week about ending the war. Ukrainian officials were not included in the meeting.
On Capitol Hill, several Republican senators disagreed with Mr. Trump’s criticism of Zelenskyy. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said she would “never refer to President Zelenskyy as a dictator.” Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said Zelenskyy is not to blame for Russia’s invasion “in any way.”
“To equate anybody or to suggest that anyone in Ukraine has responsibility for this war forgets the fact that Putin lied,” Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said. “He has lied every step of the way, and I believe any resolution in Ukraine that makes him feel like he won or just pushed to a tie is a bad idea.”
Mike Pence, who served as Mr. Trump’s vice president during his first term, also spoke out against the president’s comments, sharing a Fox News article from Feb. 24, 2022, with the headline “Russia Invades Ukraine in Largest European Attack Since WWII.”
“Mr. President, Ukraine did not ‘start’ this war,” Pence wrote. “Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives. The Road to Peace must be built on the Truth.”
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Eleanor Watson
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