Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Washington:

Following President Donald Trump’s remarks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the Russia-Ukraine conflict, US National Security Advisor (NSA) Mike Waltz emphasised that Trump aims to bring an end to the war, and criticised Zelensky for not taking the opportunity to negotiate peace.

While addressing the media briefing on Thursday, Waltz said, “His (President Trump) goal is to bring this war to an end. There has been ongoing fighting on both sides. This is World War I style trench warfare. His frustration with President Zelensky is multi-fold. Some of the rhetoric and insults coming out of Kyiv for President Trump are unacceptable. President Trump is very frustrated with President Zelensky because he hasn’t come to the table and hasn’t been willing to take this opportunity that we have offered. I think he will soon get to the point.”

Waltz also highlighted the growing concerns over the US’s financial burden in supporting the war and NATO’s defence efforts.

“We have also made it clear for years that it is unacceptable that the United States and its taxpayers continue to bear the burden, not only of the cost of war in Ukraine but also of the defensive of Europe. We fully support our NATO allies and the Article 5 commitment, but its time for our NATO allies to step up… We are going to enter into a NATO Summit with a third of our NATO allies still not meeting the 2 per cent minimum – a commitment they made a decade ago with a war at their doorstep. We have got our domestic priorities, and President Trump has made that clear. Europe needs to step up for their own defence as a partner. We can be friends and allies and have those tough conversations.”

He further added, “I had the honour of sitting at the Oval Office when President Trump spoke with President Putin and then immediately spoke with President Zelensky; both of whom said that only President Trump could bring both sides to a table and that only he could stop the horrific fighting. We just had our historic talks, mediated by our good friend and partner- Saudi Arabia, for which we thank the crown prince for hosting. We sat, for the first time in years, with the Russians and talked about the path forward with peace.”

Trump on Wednesday targeted Zelensky over the ongoing war in Ukraine and said that the United States has spent USD 200 billion more than Europe, while Europe’s financial contributions are “guaranteed” and the US gets no return.

Sharing a post on the social media platform Truth Social, Trump wrote, “Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelensky, 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 US and “TRUMP,” will never be able to settle.”

The post added, “The United States has spent $200 billion dollars more than Europe, and Europe’s money is guaranteed, while the United States will get nothing back. Why didn’t sleepy Joe Biden demand equalization, in that this war is far more important to Europe than it is to us — We have a big, beautiful ocean as separation. On top of this, Zelenskyy admits that half of the money we sent him is “MISSING.” 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.” A Dictator without Elections, Zelensky better move fast or he is not going to have a country left.”

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Johannesburg:

The EU’s top diplomat said Thursday she had initially thought US President Donald Trump had confused Volodymyr Zelensky with Vladimir Putin when he called the Ukrainian leader a “dictator”.

“First when I heard this, I was like, oh, he must be mixing the two, because clearly Putin is the dictator,” Kaja Kallas told reporters in Johannesburg.

In a post on his Truth Social platform Wednesday, Trump wrote that Zelensky was a “dictator without elections”.

Zelensky’s five-year term expired last year but Ukrainian law does not require elections during war-time.

“Zelensky is an elected leader in fair and free elections,” Kallas said in a briefing after attending a meeting of G20 foreign ministers.

The constitutions of many countries allow for elections to be suspended during war-time in order to focus on the conflict, she said.

Russia, which attacked Ukraine in 2022, could choose to hold free elections but “they are afraid of democracy expanding, because in democracy, the leaders are held accountable,” the EU foreign policy chief said.

“It’s literally from the dictator’s handbook.”

Trump has rattled Ukraine and its European backers by opening direct talks with Moscow on ending the war, but excluding Kyiv and European countries.

Kallas said the focus should remain on supporting Ukraine and putting political and economic pressure on Russia.

The stronger Ukraine is on “the battlefield, the stronger they are behind the negotiation table,” she said, adding, “Russia doesn’t really want peace.”

It was also premature to talk about sending troops to protect Ukraine after any ceasefire deal with Russia, Kallas said.

Rather, Ukraine needed concrete security guarantees that Russia will not attack again, she said, adding that history had shown that ceasefires had only been opportunities for Russia “to regroup and rearm.”

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The UK PM expressed his support for President Zelenskyy as Ukraine’s democratically elected leader.

Kyiv:

President Volodymyr Zelensky said he will meet US envoy Keith Kellogg on Thursday and that he hopes for “constructive” work with the US, after Donald Trump lashed out against the Ukrainian leader on social media.

Zelensky addressed Ukrainians late Wednesday in his daily evening video, hours after Trump criticised him on social media, calling him a “dictator” in comments echoing the Kremlin that have shocked Europe and Kyiv.

“We are scheduled to meet with General Kellogg tomorrow, and it is very important for us that the meeting and our work with America in general be constructive,” Zelensky said

“Together with America and Europe, peace can be more reliable, and this is our goal. And the main thing is that this is not only our goal, but a common goal with our partners,” he added.

The Ukrainian leader also said that the world’s most powerful — in an apparent allusion to Trump — face the “choice” of being with the Kremlin or for peace:

“The future is not with Putin, but with peace. And it is a choice for everyone in the world — and for the powerful — to be with Putin or with peace. We should choose peace. I thank everyone for their support.”

He said he is “counting on Ukrainian unity” as well as the “unity of Europe” and the “pragmatism of America.”

Zelensky also said that Ukraine has wanted an end to the war from “the very first second that” Russia invaded in February 2022 and that he wants a peace deal that will ensure Moscow will not attack again.

“I am confident that we will end it, and with a lasting peace. And so that Russia cannot come to Ukraine again, and so that Ukrainians return from Russian captivity, and so that Ukraine has a future. This is a normal desire of every nation.,” he said.

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Berlin:

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Wednesday that it was “wrong and dangerous” of US President Donald Trump to call Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator”.

“What is correct is that Volodymyr Zelensky is the elected head of state of Ukraine,” Scholz told the Spiegel news site.

Earlier on Wednesday Trump called Zelensky “a dictator without elections”.

Zelensky’s five-year term ended last year but Ukrainian law does not require elections during wartime.

Scholz condemned any attempt “to deny President Zelensky democratic legitimacy”.

“The fact that proper elections can’t be held in the middle of the war is reflected in the Ukrainian constitution and electoral law,” he said.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also hit back at Trump’s comments, branding them “absurd”.

“If you look at the real world instead of just firing off a tweet, then you know who in Europe has to live in the conditions of a dictatorship: people in Russia, people in Belarus,” Baerbock told broadcaster ZDF.

Earlier Berlin had also pushed back against Trump’s claim that Kyiv had “started” the fighting.

“No one but Putin started or wanted this war in the heart of Europe,” Baerbock said in a statement, adding that “we are working with all our might to further strengthen Ukraine”.

She said “we are at an existential waypoint for security and peace in Europe” and that the goal was “achieving lasting peace for Ukraine — safe and protected from future Russian aggression”.

Baerbock said that any “false peace … would only give Russia a respite for new military campaigns”.

Regarding the fast-moving events since Trump spoke directly with Putin about ending the conflict, she said that “we must not allow ourselves to be confused” and “keep a cool head”.

Downplaying Europe’s role on Ukraine “only plays into the hands” of Russia, she said.

“I therefore advocate acting confidently towards the US administration.”

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Kyiv:

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday warned against trusting Vladimir Putin, as US President Donald Trump insisted he believed the Russian leader “wants peace”.

Trump’s shock statement that he wanted to begin talks with Putin to end the war stunned Ukraine and European allies — several of whom questioned his strategy and warned Washington not to hatch a deal without them.

Meeting NATO partners, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denied Trump’s 90-minute phone call with Putin on Wednesday meant a betrayal of Kyiv’s nearly three-year-long war effort.

Zelensky — who is to meet US Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference on Friday — said it was “not very pleasant” that Trump called Putin before speaking to him.

In a social media post after speaking with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Zelensky “warned world leaders against trusting Putin’s claims of readiness to end the war”.

The Ukrainian leader said he wanted the United States to agree a “plan to stop Putin” before any negotiations.

The US president said he expected to meet the Russian leader in Saudi Arabia “in the not-too-distant future” — sparking fears Kyiv would be frozen out of discussions.

But Trump on Thursday insisted Ukraine will be “part of” negotiations and that he was convinced Putin “wants peace”.

“I think he would tell me if he didn’t,” he added.

– ‘One way or another’ –

The Kremlin said that “one way or another” Kyiv would be involved in the talks, but there would also be a “bilateral Russian-American track”.

Ukraine’s European backers rejected any move to force a settlement on Kyiv.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz rejected any “dictated peace”, arguing that “a Russian victory or a Ukranian collapse will not lead to peace — on the contrary”.

“This would put peace and stability in Europe at risk, far beyond Ukraine,” he said.

EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas insisted that no deal “behind our backs” could work, as she accused Washington of “appeasement” towards Russia.

“We shouldn’t take anything off the table before the negotiations have even started because it plays to Russia’s court and it is what they want,” she said.

“Any quick fix is a dirty deal,” she said.

That came after Trump’s administration poured cold water on Ukraine’s goals of reclaiming all its territory and pushing to join NATO.

Hegseth said Europe must now start providing the “overwhelming share” of aid to Ukraine and that the United States would not deploy troops in any deal.

“There is no betrayal there. There is a recognition that the whole world and the United States is invested and interested in peace,” the Pentagon chief said at NATO.

“That will require both sides recognising things they don’t want to.”

He denied that Trump had given up leverage to Putin, and said that negotiations would involve the Russian leader and Zelensky.

Ukraine’s defence minister Rustem Umerov told Kyiv’s NATO backers “we’re continuing, we’re strong, we’re capable, we’re able, we will deliver”.

Zelensky’s meeting with Vance in Munich will be the latest in a flurry of high-level European encounters for top Trump officials.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent held talks in Kyiv on Wednesday on granting Washington access to Ukraine’s rare earth deposits in return for security support.

In a radio interview on Thursday US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he expected Ukraine to sign a minerals access deal which would repay “the US taxpayer for the billions of dollars that’s been spent there”.

– Losses in Kursk –

Trump’s outreach to Putin had been broadly expected, but the quick pace of his peace push has left heads spinning after three years of staunch Western support for Ukraine.

Trump suggested he would “love” to welcome Russia back into the G7 from which it was suspended in 2014 after Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.

“I think it was a mistake to throw him out,” Trump said, referring to Putin.

Kyiv’s European backers fear Trump could force Ukraine into a peace deal that will leave them facing an emboldened Putin — while paying the lion’s share of costs for post-war security.

France’s armed forces minister Sebastien Lecornu said Paris was worried the “American administration is giving up everything” Russia wanted.

Hegseth said European troops could provide security guarantees for Ukraine under a deal — and his British counterpart John Healey said planning was “accelerating” on that front.

Zelensky has raised the possibility of swapping Russian territory held by Kyiv for Ukrainian land Moscow occupies.

But Ukraine’s grip on Russia’s Kursk region has slipped — with Kyiv saying it now holds barely a third of the area it captured last year. 

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Zelensky’s statement came after Putin ruled out direct talks with his Ukrainian counterpart.

Moscow:

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that talks with Ukraine were possible but not with its President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom he deemed “illegitimate”.

US President Donald Trump has put pressure on both sides to end the nearly three-year conflict, saying last week that Zelensky wanted to negotiate a “deal” to stop the fighting.

“If (Zelensky) wants to participate in the negotiations, I will allocate people to take part in the negotiations,” Putin said, calling the Ukrainian leader “illegitimate” because his presidential term expired during martial law.

“If there is a desire to negotiate and find a compromise, let anyone lead the negotiations there… Naturally, we will strive for what suits us, what corresponds to our interests,” he added.

Putin also claimed the fighting would end in two months or less if the West cut its support to Kyiv.

“They will not exist for a month if the money and, in a broad sense, the bullets run out. Everything would be over in a month and a half or two,” Putin said.

The conflict has shown no signs of de-escalating despite Trump’s promise to enact a quick ceasefire once in office.

Russian officials said Monday that nobody in Trump’s team had reached out about setting up a meeting with Putin, but that both sides appeared to be ready for one.

Kyiv has warned against it being excluded from any peace talks, accusing Putin of wanting to “manipulate” Trump.

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Kyiv:

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday warned that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin wanted to “manipulate” Donald Trump, after the Kremlin chief praised the US leader and said he was ready for talks with him.

Kyiv earlier warned against any Putin-Trump peace talks on the near three-year war without its and European participation.

“He wants to manipulate the desire of the President of the United States of America to achieve peace,” Zelensky said during a daily evening address on social media. “I am confident that no Russian manipulations will succeed anymore.”

He said Putin, who launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, was ready to continue the war and “manipulate the leaders of the world”.

Putin had earlier praised Trump as a “smart” leader who might have prevented the conflict from starting.

The Russian leader did not say when talks would take place, and the Kremlin said Friday it was still waiting for “signals” from Washington, despite Trump announcing Thursday he was willing to meet Putin “immediately”.

“We have always said, and I want to emphasise this once again, that we are ready for these negotiations on Ukrainian issues,” Putin told a reporter from Russian state TV.

Praising Trump as a “smart” and “pragmatic” man, Putin also repeated the Republican’s unfounded claim that he won the US presidential election against Joe Biden in 2020.

“I cannot but agree with him that if he had been president — if his victory hadn’t been stolen in 2020 — then maybe there would not have been the crisis in Ukraine that emerged in 2022,” Putin said.

– Pressure from Trump –

The Ukraine conflict has plunged relations between the two nuclear powers to their lowest levels since the Cold War.

Trump, who was inaugurated on Monday, has called the conflict “ridiculous” and threatened Russia with tougher economic sanctions if it does not agree to stop its offensive.

“If they don’t settle this war soon, like almost immediately, I’m going to put massive tariffs on Russia, and massive taxes, and also big sanctions,” the Republican said during a Fox News interview on Thursday.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on the same day, Trump said he would ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to lower oil prices, claiming: “If the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately.”

Putin pushed back at Trump’s claim that lower oil prices might expedite the end of the conflict.

“I have a hard time imagining there will be decisions taken that are detrimental to the American economy,” Putin said Friday.

– ‘Come back to reality’ –

Neither side has shown signs of de-escalating hostilities since Trump’s inauguration, despite the President claiming he would end the conflict in “24 hours” once in power.

Kyiv on Friday warned against being excluded from any talks.

“He (Putin) wants to negotiate the fate of Europe — without Europe. And he wants to talk about Ukraine without Ukraine,” the head of Ukraine’s presidential office Andriy Yermak said.

“This is not going to happen. Putin needs to come back to reality himself, or he will be brought back. This is not how it works in the modern world.”

Russian aerial attacks near Kyiv killed three people and wounded several others, Ukrainian officials said Friday, while Ukraine fired 120 drones at least 12 Russian regions, including the capital Moscow.

The Kremlin has launched drone or missile attacks at Kyiv almost every day since sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022, ostensibly targeting military and energy facilities.

“Three people were killed in an enemy attack in the Kyiv region,” the emergency services said in a statement on social media.

Fragments of a drone had struck a 10-storey residential building after the head of the region said a private home had also been hit, it added.

Black smoke billowed from a residential building damaged in the strike as rescue workers hauled out the bodies of the victims, official images from the scene showed.

In Russia, the Ukrainian military said it launched an overnight drone attack striking an oil refinery, power station facilities and an electronics plant.

State media reported that a microelectronics factory had halted work after six Ukrainian drones damaged production and storage facilities in the Bryansk region.

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