Donald Trump on Friday said he doesn’t consider it essential for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to be present at negotiations aimed at ending Russia‘s war in Ukraine.
‘I don’t think he’s very important to be in meetings,’ Trump said in an audio interview with Fox News Radio. ‘He’s been there for three years. He makes it very hard to make deals.’
It comes after Russian and top diplomats met in Saudi Arabia earlier this week to discuss plans for a ceasefire and Kyiv was not invited.
The US President also said Ukrainian leaders ‘don’t have any cards’ in talks aimed at ending the country’s war against a Russian invasion.
‘I’ve had very good talks with Putin, and I’ve had not such good talks with Ukraine. They don’t have any cards, but they play it tough. But we’re not going to let this continue,’ Trump told a gathering of US governors at the White House.
The US President earlier this week launched a scathing attack on his Ukrainian counterpart this week, blaming him for the war on his country despite Russia being the aggressor.
Zelensky in turn accused the US President of falling for Russian fake news.
Trump hit back by labelling Zelensky ‘a dictator without elections’ – despite the Ukrainian leader winning more than 73 per cent of the vote in Ukraine’s 2019 presidential election and only pausing elections because of the war.
US President Donald Trump told Fox News that ‘it is not important’ for Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to be involved in peace talks
Trump blamed Zelensky earlier this week for the war on his country
Siding with Trump, ally Elon Musk yesterday suggested the Ukrainian president runs a ‘fraud machine feeding off dead bodies of soldiers’.
The war of words has stunned Kyiv and European capitals, a sign of just how rapidly Donald Trump is overhauling Washington’s long-standing support for Ukraine as he opens talks with Russia on a settlement to the conflict.
Trump’s envoy to Ukraine and Russia said that he had held ‘extensive and positive discussions’ with Zelensky about the three-year war with Russia and praised the Ukrainian leader as an ’embattled and courageous leader of a nation at war’.
Retired US lieutenant general Keith Kellogg travelled to Kyiv on Wednesday before a planned news conference with Zelensky on Thursday was changed at the last minute to a simple photo opportunity.
But he struck a positive tone after what he said on the social platform X, formerly Twitter, had been ‘a long and intense day’ of talks with Ukraine’s senior leadership.
His comments marked a departure from recent rebukes of Zelensky by Trump and other senior US officials that appeared to indicate an abrupt deterioration of relations.
Trump called Zelensky ‘a dictator without elections’ and warned him that he had ‘better move fast’ to negotiate an end to the war or risk not having a nation to lead.
The possibility that vital US military aid for Ukraine was in doubt darkened the mood in Kyiv as Ukrainian forces struggle to hold back Russia’s bigger army on the battlefield.
European governments, uneasy about being side-lined so far in talks between senior US and Russian officials, have jumped to shore up Zelensky and at the same time avoid a breakdown in transatlantic relations.
Polish President Andrzej Duda, whose country has been a vocal supporter of neighbouring Ukraine, said Zelensky phoned him on Friday.
Duda said he told Zelensky ‘to remain committed to the course of calm and constructive cooperation’ with Trump.
‘We consistently believe there is no other way to stop the bloodshed and achieve lasting peace in Ukraine except with the support of the United States,’ Duda said he also told Zelensky.
Trump ally Elon Musk yesterday suggested the Ukrainian president runs a ‘ fraud machine feeding off dead bodies of soldiers ‘. Pictured: Elon Musk displays a chainsaw given to him by President of Argentina Javier Milei during the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland – February 20, 2025
Trump labelled Zelensky ‘a dictator without elections’ – despite the Ukrainian leader winning more than 73 per cent of the vote in Ukraine’s 2019 presidential election. Pictured: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with Donald Trump in September 2024
‘I trust that goodwill and honesty form the foundation of the US negotiation strategy,’ Duda said on X.
‘I have no doubt that President Trump is guided by a deep sense of responsibility for global stability and peace.’
The European Union’s top defence official said on Friday that the bloc plans to send a strong message of support to Ukraine next week with a new aid package to mark Monday’s third anniversary of the war.
EU defence commissioner Andrius Kubilius said senior members of the bloc’s executive branch are weighing how, ‘in a very urgent way, to send a very strong message to Ukrainians and to the world that we are standing together with Ukraine’.
European policy commissioners, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other top EU officials are travelling to Kyiv on Monday.
Russia has pressed on with its invasion even as talks with the US take place, striking civilian targets almost daily.
On Friday, Russian forces dropped three powerful glide bombs on Kostiantynivka, in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, killing one man and injuring two others, regional governor Vadym Filashkin said.
Another Russian glide bomb damaged homes and injured five people in the north-eastern Kharkiv region, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said.
The public quarrel between Trump and Zelensky began after Russia and the US agreed on Tuesday to start working toward ending the war in Ukraine and improving their diplomatic and economic ties.
With that, and a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump abruptly reversed the three-year US policy of isolating Russia.
Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said during a White House briefing on Thursday that the US president is ‘obviously very frustrated’ with Zelensky.
Zelensky was unhappy that a US team opened the talks without inviting him or European governments that have backed Kyiv.
When Trump claimed without evidence that Zelensky was deeply unpopular in Ukraine and falsely suggested that Ukraine was to blame for the war, Zelensky said Trump was living in a Russian-made ‘disinformation space,’ suggesting he had been duped by Putin.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.