Amid intense negotiations between the United States and Russia to end the war in Ukraine, U.S. President Donald Trump slammed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukraine, saying Zelensky should not be surprised he was not invited to the negotiating table. He also complained about hundreds of billions of missing taxpayer dollars and a lack of any deal that could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
Speaking to reporters at Mar-a-Lago, Trump responded to a question about Ukraine not being present for the negotiations, to which Trump responded: “I am very disappointed. I heard you are angry that you did not get a seat (at the negotiating table)… You have been there for three years. You should never have started (the war). You could have made a deal with them.”
“A half-baked negotiator could have settled this years ago without the loss of any land, without the loss of cities,” said Trump.
“I want to see peace. Look, you know why I want it? Because I don’t want all these people killed anymore. I’m looking at people that are being killed — and they’re Russian and Ukrainian people, but they’re people,” Trump said.
“We have a situation where we haven’t had elections in Ukraine, where we have martial law … the leader in Ukraine, I hate to say it, but he’s down at 4 percent approval rating… The country has been blown to smithereens,” he said, going to describe the country as a “massive demolition site.”
Zelenksy has been fighting to stay relevant in the peace talks, saying during a visit to Turkey: “Decisions on how to end the war in Ukraine cannot be made without Ukraine, nor can any conditions be imposed. We were not invited to this Russian-American meeting in Saudi Arabia. It was a surprise for us, I think for many others as well.”
During the press conference, Trump also questioned where all the money is that was sent to Ukraine.
“We gave them I think $350 billion… where is all the money that’s been given? Where is it going? I don’t see any accounting,” he said.
Zelensky has continuously imposed martial law in Ukraine, which canceled elections and ended any chance of a free press. A majority of Ukrainians support an end to the war and are willing to accept a loss of territory for the first time ever, according to a major poll from Gallup Research.
However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has already said that Russia will reject a three-point peace plan, allegedly backed by Trump, which was leaked to Fox News. Lavrov said he would not accept any Western troops in Ukraine. Another aspect of the peace plan is the call for new elections in Ukraine.
“The absorption of Ukraine by the North Atlantic Alliance is a direct threat to the interests of the Russian Federation, a direct threat to our sovereignty,” said Lavrov.
A number of European countries are attempting to cut off any chance of a peace deal by committing an incredible €700 billion to defense spending in support of Ukraine and talking of sending peacekeepers to the country.
