Miami:

US President Donald Trump called Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator” Wednesday, widening a personal rift with major implications for efforts to end the conflict triggered by Russia’s invasion three years ago.

The United States had provided funding and arms to Ukraine but, in an abrupt policy shift since coming to power, Trump has opened talks with Moscow.

“A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform of the Ukrainian leader, whose five-year term expired last year.

Ukrainian law does not require elections during wartime.

On Tuesday Trump held a press conference in which he criticized Zelensky, repeated several Kremlin narratives about the conflict and called for an end to the war.

Zelensky in turn accused Trump of succumbing to Russian “disinformation,” including Trump blaming of Kyiv for having “started” the war and echoing Kremlin questions over Zelensky’s legitimacy.

“He refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing (Joe) Biden ‘like a fiddle,'” said Trump in the Truth post of Zelensky.

“In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only ‘TRUMP,’ and the Trump Administration, can do,” Trump wrote in the post.

Zelensky was elected in 2019 for a five-year term, but has remained leader under martial law imposed following the Russian invasion.

His popularity has eroded, but the percentage of Ukrainians who trust him has never dipped below 50 percent since the conflict started, according to the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS).

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Republican presidential nominee former U.S. President Donald Trump meeting on September 27, 2024 in New York.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met former U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday (September 27, 2024) morning in New York after simmering tensions between the two politicians over divergent views on resolving the Russia-Ukraine war.

The recent U.S. assistance to Ukraine had cast doubt on whether the meeting would take place.

Also Read:Zelenskyy visiting White House as partisan divide grows over Ukraine war

The meeting, which lasted just under 45 minutes, took place at Trump Tower in Manhattan during Mr. Zelenskyy’s visit for the United Nations General Assembly.

Ahead of the meeting, Mr. Trump remarked that he maintained “very good” relations with both Mr. Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. In response, Mr. Zelenskyy expressed hope that Mr. Trump had better relations with Ukraine.

In a September 22 interview with The New Yorker, Mr. Zelenskyy had criticized Mr. Trump, stating that he believed the former president did not have a viable plan to end the war, and referred to Mr. Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, as “too radical.” On Wednesday, Mr. Trump accused Mr. Zelenskyy of making “little nasty aspersions” against him while remaining vague about his stance on the war’s outcome, emphasizing the need for it to conclude.

Mr. Trump said that if he won the U.S Presidential election, he would negoatiate a “fair and rapid deal”.

“It should stop. The President (Zelenskyy) wants it to stop. And I’m sure President Putin wants it to stop,” he said. Asked what he would consider “fair”, Mr. Trump said it was too early to define.

Mr. Zelenksyy stressed the need for a “just peace”, adding that Mr. Putin needed to be pressured to stop the war. “He is on our territory, that is most important to understand,” he remarked.

Mr. Zelenskyy was in Washington DC on Thursday (September 26, 2024) to present his ‘Victory Plan’ to U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who is also the Democratic candidate for the presidency.

Mr. Zelenskyy’s visit to an ammunition factory on September 22 in Scranton, Mr. Biden’s hometown in the election swing state of Pennsylvania, had drawn criticism from Republicans. The factory makes 155 mm artillery shells; the U.S. has sent Ukraine 3 million of these, the Associated Press had reported.

Accompanied by Democratic leaders, including Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a strong Harris supporter, Mr. Zelenskyy faced scrutiny from House Oversight Chair James Comer, who launched an investigation into the Scranton visit. With the U.S. general election looming next month, House Speaker Mike Johnson (Republican) condemned the visit as a partisan campaign event, labeling it “election interference” in an open letter to Mr. Zelenskyy. He called for the immediate dismissal of Ukraine’s envoy in Washington, Oksana Markarova.