U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have traded accusations over the Russia–Ukraine war and how Zelenskyy’s team is faring nearly three years into the conflict.
In the Feb. 19 post, Trump said Zelenskyy is faring poorly in Ukrainian public opinion polls and called the Ukrainian leader a dictator, as Kyiv continues to postpone the country’s regular election schedule.
Under normal circumstances, Zelenskyy would have been up for reelection last spring, but Ukrainian law does not allow elections during a state of martial law. The government has extended its martial law status continuously since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
“[Zelenskyy] refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing [President Joe Biden] ‘like a fiddle,’” Trump wrote. “A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left.”
Trump, in remarks given at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida the previous day, said some polls showed Zelenskyy with an approval rating as low as 4 percent.
“I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died,” Trump wrote.
On Feb. 19, Zelenskyy said Trump was being swayed by disinformation and was undermining efforts to isolate Russia diplomatically.
“We saw this disinformation,” Zelenskyy told reporters at a press conference on Feb. 19. “We understand it comes from Russia.”
He also warned against attempts to remove him from power in a time of war.
Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special presidential envoy on Russia and Ukraine, met with the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andriy Yermak, on Feb. 19.
“Andriy Yermak stressed the importance of Keith Kellogg having complete and objective information about the events on the front and about the ability and desire of the Ukrainians to end the war with a just and lasting peace,” the Ukrainian president’s office said in a press statement following their meeting.
“In particular, briefings will be held for the American side directly from the military command and commanders on the ground, which will allow them to assess the real situation on the battlefield.”
The Ukrainian president’s office said Yermak also asserted that Russia is manipulating Ukraine’s network of international support with deceptive information. The office said this factor reinforces the need for Ukrainian input in negotiations.
James Robbins, dean of academics at the Institute of World Politics in Washington, acknowledged that it would be a challenge for Ukraine to hold elections in wartime, but said such an effort would affirm the legitimacy of Zelenskyy’s leadership.
In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times on Feb. 19, Robbins noted that President Abraham Lincoln didn’t cancel the 1864 elections, instead allowing the vote that year to serve as a referendum on his administration’s handling of the American Civil War.
Robbins said Zelenskyy “would demonstrate a commitment to democracy by doing the same.”
Trump’s Feb. 19 comments also show that he’s willing to force both sides to the negotiating table, Robbins said.
“The idea that Zelenskyy is going to change the president’s mind by badmouthing him in public media ... everyone who knows the president will tell you that is an atrocious way to deal with this administration,” Vance said.
