U.S. President Donald Trump has sparked fresh controversy by blaming Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelensky for the ongoing war with Russia, asserting that Kyiv could have avoided the conflict through negotiations. Speaking from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump claimed that Ukraine “started the war” and criticized Zelensky’s leadership. “You’ve been there for three years, you should have ended it three years ago.
You should have never started it; you could have made a deal,” he said in an impromptu press conference on Tuesday. His comments come amid shifting diplomatic engagements, with the United States and Russia recently holding peace talks in Saudi Arabia, without Ukrainian participation. Trump also questioned Zelensky’s legitimacy, citing the absence of elections in Ukraine due to martial law. “I mean, I hate to say it, but he’s down at a four percent approval rating,” he stated, adding that Ukraine has been under “essentially martial law.”
Zelensky, whose term was extended due to wartime conditions, dismissed Trump’s assertions, telling German media that he remains in office because “the majority in my country support me.” He emphasized that Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression is backed by public consensus. The U.S. president further criticized Zelensky for protesting Kyiv’s exclusion from the U.S.-Russia talks. “They’ve had a seat for three years and a long time before that,” Trump remarked.
“This could have been settled very easily. You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.” He suggested that a compromise, negotiated under his leadership, would have preserved Ukraine’s territorial integrity while avoiding war. “I could have made a deal for Ukraine. That would have given them almost all of the land and no people would have been killed, and no city would have been demolished.”
Trump’s remarks found support from billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who reacted to an X post claiming Zelensky “wants money and power” with a 100 percent emoji. Meanwhile, Trump hinted at a potential meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month, signaling evolving perspectives on Russia within Washington’s political landscape. Zelensky, who was scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia this week, postponed the trip after Riyadh hosted the U.S.-Russia negotiations.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met in the Saudi capital on Tuesday, marking the first in-person talks between their nations since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Both sides agreed to appoint negotiating teams to explore pathways to end the war. Amid these developments, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday for discussions with Zelensky and his administration.
The Ukrainian president condemned the exclusion of Kyiv and European allies from the Saudi talks, stating during a press conference in Ankara, Turkey, that discussions about Ukraine should not take place “behind Ukraine’s back.” He warned that the negotiations appear to reflect Russia’s original war demands and reiterated that Ukraine would not accept any settlement reached without its involvement. – By MENA Newswire News Desk.
